Research Park News

February 4, 2016  

South Shore Clean Cities awards funding to 5 organizations for diesel emission reduction projects

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.; Rockport, Ind. - South Shore Clean Cities Inc., a nonprofit organization sponsored through a U.S. Department of Energy program, has announced the initial grant awards for a program aimed at improving air quality in the Rockport/Spencer County area in Indiana.

The initial round of the Rockport Spencer County Cleaner Air through Diesel Emission Reductions (RSC-CADER) grant funding is expected to reduce diesel emissions in the region by more than 1,200 pounds per year for the next five to seven years, totaling more than 14,000 pounds of criteria pollutant emissions avoided over that period.

Five awardees received funds totaling $239,255 to implement a variety of diesel emission projects valued at more than $990,000. South Shore Clean Cities, the administrator of the RSC-CADER grant program, also assisted two of the awardees in securing additional grants funds totaling $69,280 through the Indiana Office of Energy Development's Propane School Bus program and Indiana Department of Environmental Management's DieselWise program.       

The RSC-CADER grant award recipients to date are:

* North Spencer County School Corp., which will receive $76,359 to replace two older diesel-fueled school buses with new propane-fueled school buses.

* Spencer County Solid Waste Management District, which will receive $75,000 to replace an older recycling compactor truck with a comparable new cleaner diesel truck.

* City of Cannelton, which will receive $35,094 to replace an older refuse collection/compactor truck with a comparable new cleaner diesel truck.

* Perry County Port Authority, which will receive $26,802 to replace their older rail maintenance truck with a comparable propane-fueled truck. This rail maintenance truck spends much of its time traveling the Hoosier Southern Railroad between Cannelton and Lincoln City, Indiana.

* Bestway Express Inc., which will receive $26,000 toward the replacement of two diesel-fueled semi-tractors with comparable compressed natural gas-fueled semi-tractors.

The grant program is the result of a settlement agreement between American Electric Power and a Citizens Oversight Committee that includes, the Citizens Action Coalition, Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and Environmental Law & Policy Center.

About South Shore Clean Cities

Designated as the 71st Clean Cities Coalition on June 15, 1999, South Shore Clean Cities Inc. was founded on the principle that motivated individuals working together for common goals best accomplish the nation's objectives. In almost 100 coalitions, government agencies and private companies voluntarily form partnerships that meet the objectives of improving air quality, developing regional economic opportunities and reducing the use of imported oil.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The Purdue Research Park manages the Purdue Technology Centers in four sites in Indiana: West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Merrillville and New Albany. The more than 260 companies located in the park network employ about 4,500 people who earn an average annual wage of $63,000. The park is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2014 Incubator Network of the Year from the National Business Incubation Association for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org 

Writer: Hillary Henry, 765-588-3586, hkhenry@prf.org

Source: Carl Lisek, 219-644-3690, clisek@southshorecleancities.org 

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