Mass. city trucks retrofitted

BOSTON – Fifteen city-owned construction vehicles in Massachusetts, including some in Bristol County, will release less exhaust thanks to a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA sent the money to the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection, which in turn hired a contractor to retrofit the vehicles. The Bristol County town of Fairhaven had a John Deere backhoe, a Caterpillar loader and a John Deere grader retrofitted.
“It’s good for the environment, and it hasn’t hampered the operation of any of the pieces of the equipment we’ve put it on,” Fairhaven Highway Superintendent John Charbonneau told Providence Business News.
Charbonneau said he picked the three pieces of equipment because they were the heaviest polluters in his fleet and some of the youngest that the town is likely to keep for many years.
The pollution control technology is designed to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter. The pollutant has been implicated in the commonwealth’s rising asthma rates and is considered a probable carcinogen, according to the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection.
“Diesel engines remain a persistent source of air pollution in our local communities, so this retrofit program helps to clear the air one engine at a time,” said Laurie Burt, the department’s commissioner. “By retrofitting hundreds of off-road vehicles, school and transit buses, and waste collection trucks, we are improving air quality across the commonwealth.”
The commonwealth hired Shuster Corporation to install the diesel oxidation catalysts on the municipal equipment. Officials said the catalysts function like catalytic converters and reduce fine particulate matter – that less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter – by 25 percent, as well as lower hydrocarbons by 60 percent and carbon monoxide by 60 percent.
Other communities receiving retrofits included Buckland, Framingham, Greenfield, Lowell and Orange.
“These six communities are at the forefront of a growing interest by municipalities to reduce the emissions of their diesel-powered vehicles for the benefit of employees and local residents,” Gov. Deval L. Patrick said. “Thanks to the EPA, these communities can join the nearly 40 communities that have retrofitted their schools buses, off-road engines or waste collection vehicles in recent years.”