Air Pollution Control Program

Breathe Easy Missouri Project 

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources received two grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a total of nearly $2 million in federal funds. The funding comes under the National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. The Air Program submitted two applications under this competitive grant and both applications were selected to receive full funding. The two grant projects are known as the Clean Up Missouri Diesel Emissions Project and the Breathe Easy Missouri Project, each of which were selected to receive nearly $1 million in federal funds.  Both grants target four separate areas of the state including St. Louis, Kansas City, southwest Missouri and southeast Missouri. Four different organizations were awarded subgrants to implement the two projects in their respective areas of the state.

Breathe Easy Missouri Project
The Breathe Easy Missouri Project focuses on off-road engines including material handlers, loaders, marine engines and locomotives, but the project also includes retrofits for dump trucks, work trucks and refuse haulers.

Marine engines and locomotives operate in areas of extremely disproportionately high levels of diesel emissions. Many rail yards and ports are also located in highly populated areas and are near or in environmental justice communities. Reducing the emissions in and around these areas will dramatically reduce the public’s exposure to diesel exhaust.

For locomotives, idle reduction is an extremely effective approach to both reducing diesel emissions and conserving fuel.  Automatic engine shutdown startup devices on locomotives can not only reduce emissions, but also lower operating costs. This idle reduction technology will result in the conservation of diesel fuel, which will make the facilities operation more sustainable, thus decreasing America’s dependency on foreign oil. For more information about EPA verified idle reduction technology for medium and heavy duty diesel fleets, see EPA's verified idle reduction technology list.

The estimated projected annual and lifetime emission reductions and fuel savings expected from all projects implemented under the Breathe Easy Missouri National DERA Program can be seen in the table below, along with the estimated projection of annual monetary health benefits to result from the project.  The projected emission reductions, fuel savings and health benefits were calculated using the EPA’s Diesel Emission Quantifier.

Below is a summary of the specific projects expected to be implemented in each of the four areas of the state.  Additionally, the subgrantee organizations implementing and overseeing the projects in each area of the state are listed.

St. Louis area
St. Louis Regional Clean Cities received a subgrant from the Air Program to implement and oversee the project. St. Louis Regional Clean Cities is an agency covering the St. Louis region and is dedicated to promoting air quality and the use of alternative fuels. The table summarizes the project to be implemented in the St. Louis area.

Kansas City area
The Mid-America Regional Council received a subgrant from the Air Program to implement and oversee the project. Mid-America Regional Council is a regional metropolitan planning agency covering the Kansas City area. This council promotes economic development, transportation and environmental quality throughout the region. In 2009, Mid-America Regional Council received a grant to fund the Regional Air Quality Public Education Program. This program serves to educate Kansas City area residents about protecting air quality and has been instrumental in developing and maintaining the Regional Clean Air Action Plan which promotes voluntary measures that citizens can take every day to reduce their impact on air quality. The data collection assistance that Mid-America Regional Council provides to the state and local air programs assures that relevant and quality assured data is available to regional air quality planners. The table summarizes the project to be implemented in the Kansas City area.

Southwest Missouri area
The Ozarks Center for Sustainable Solutions at Drury University received a subgrant from the Air Program to implement and oversee the project. The Ozarks Center for Sustainable Solutions at Drury University will be implementing the grant on behalf of the Ozark Clean Air Alliance.  The Ozark Clean Air Alliance is a partnership between multiple stakeholders, which promotes air quality throughout fifteen counties in southwest Missouri. Ozarks Center for Sustainable Solutions at Drury University received a grant in 2009 to provide pollution prevention technical assistance and environmental and sustainability awareness to businesses, organizations, local governments and the general public throughout Missouri's Ozarks region. The purpose of the center is to help organizations identify and implement pollution prevention opportunities to reduce pollution and operational costs. The table summarizes the project to be implemented in the southwest Missouri area.

Southeast Missouri area
The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission received a subgrant from the Air Program to implement and oversee the project.  The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission has developed a Clean Air Action Plan for the area and has participated in several clean diesel grant projects in the past.

The Air Program is committed to reducing diesel emissions in Missouri. Diesel emissions contain Oxides of Nitrogen as well as Volatile Organic Compounds, which in the presence of sunlight; react to form ground-level ozone. Ozone is known to cause and aggravate respiratory diseases such as asthma. Missouri currently has several areas in the state that are violating or approaching a violation of EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone, which is set to establish limits on ground level ozone concentrations that will protect public health.

Diesel emissions also contain fine particulate matter, which can penetrate deep into people’s lungs past their natural defenses. This can lead to a variety of different lung and respiratory disease including lung cancer. Reducing diesel emissions, particularly in areas with disproportionately high concentrations of air pollutants is vital to the Air Program’s mission of protecting public health.

The fleet owners included in the project have begun procuring their equipment and some have begun to purchase and to install the equipment on their fleets. Each of the four subgrantees included in the project have detailed information about the project in each of their respective areas of the state listed on their websites. This project is expected to result in numerous public health and economic benefits. This grant has an expected completion date of June 30, 2013.