The Northeast Diesel Collaborative – a partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state agencies, and private and nonprofit groups – recently recognized four organizations for their outstanding leadership and efforts in reducing diesel emissions. The collaborative honored the agencies and organizations, including one from Massachusetts and one from Vermont, as part of its second annual Northeast Diesel Collaborative Breathe Easy Leadership Awards Program.
The Northeast Diesel Collaborative Breathe Easy awards are given for outstanding service in reducing air pollution to protect human health and the environment. The winners achieve these goals by taking actions such as retrofitting and replacing older diesel engines, reducing idling from diesel engines, developing education and outreach campaigns to promote diesel emissions reduction and promoting cleaner fuels.
Leadership Award: Green Space and Recreation Committee, Chelsea Collaborative, Inc.
For the past sixteen years, Chelsea Collaborative's Green Space and Recreation Committee (Green Space) has formed public and private sector partnerships in a collaborative effort to protect and restore Chelsea’s natural resources. Improving air quality and reducing resident exposure to diesel pollutants in Chelsea and Everett, MA, two communities that receive a disproportionate quantity of air pollution from diesel fleets, has been a primary objective in this effort. In 2010, the Collaborative, partnering with the New England Produce Center, replaced 98 diesel-powered transport refrigeration units used for extra cold storage with electrically-powered units at one of the largest produce distribution centers in the country. An additional project partnership installed diesel emission reduction technologies on fleet equipment at the Chelsea Fire Department, the Chelsea Public Works Department, and the Eastern Mineral Salt Dock. Combined, both projects are projected to remove 34 tons of nitrogen oxide, 5.7 tons of particulate matter, and reduce fuel use by an estimated 275,000 gallons while saving an estimated $500,000 in operational costs.
For more information about the Chelsea Collaborative Green Space & Recreation Committee, please visit:
Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee
Leadership Award (Honorable Mention): Casella Waste Systems, Inc.
In 2010, Casella Waste Systems, partnering with Chittenden Solid Waste District and with funding from EPA’s National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program, replaced three diesel refuse trucks introducing the first of its compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered fleet of collection vehicles serving Chittenden County, VT. To accommodate the new technology and maintain the reliability of the new CNG vehicles, CWS refurbished its maintenance garage and constructed a CNG fueling station at its transfer station in Williston.
For more information on the Chittenden Solid Waste District's CNG fleet, please visit:
Chittenden Solid Waste District
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