U.S. Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn and) Grace Meng (D-Queens) today hailed the House’s passage of $20 million for Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) grants. The money is used to replace or retrofit old diesel engines, including those in locomotives and school buses, in order to reduce the harmful diesel emissions they generate. The funds were incorporated into the Omnibus Appropriations Bill after Nadler and Meng called for $30 million to be allocated for the program. The President had only requested $6 million.

“The $20 million appropriated toward DERA is a step in the right direction for upgrading outdated diesel engines and improving our local environment,” said Nadler. “Many diesel engines are decades old and can be found in our school buses and locomotives, which run almost every day. Taking advantage of cleaner technologies will improve our air quality and reduce the disastrous consequences of the pollution unnecessarily created by antiquated diesel engines.”

“The approval of $20 million for DERA grants is a victory for our environment across America,” said Meng. “They will continue to greatly improve air quality, help combat asthma rates in children and increase cleaner diesel technologies in our communities.”

Under past DERA grants, the New York City Economic Development Corporation received funds to upgrade two locomotives. The Representatives are hopeful that more money can be allocated in the future to New York State to help with retrofitting additional engines.

Nadler and Meng urged the DERA funding to be allocated in a letter they sent last April to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and related Agencies, the panel that decides funding levels for environmental programs.

The $1.1 trillion Omnibus Appropriations package passed the House by a vote of 359 to 67. Its approval avoids a government shutdown by funding federal agencies through September.

                                                                    # # #