WASHINGTON – Caterpillar, along with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Leavitt announced the recipients of company grants earmarked to lower diesel emissions from more than 240 school buses across the country.
The Caterpillar donation, totaling $250,000, is part of the company’s ongoing role in the EPA’s Clean School Bus USA initiative. Caterpillar Group President Stu Levenick made the announcement on Thursday, June 3, as part of the National Retrofit Conference taking place in Washington, D.C. Grant recipients include District 150 in Peoria, Ill.; four school districts in Ellis County, Texas, south of Dallas; and the Tucson, Ariz., Unified School District.
“We’re delighted to be part of Clean School Bus USA, and will continue partnering with the EPA and schools across the country to retrofit older buses with the latest environmentally friendly technology,” Levenick said. “As the world leader in emissions reduction technology, we’re well equipped to provide cost-effective solutions that better the quality of life for all of us. We’ve invested in technology that not only provides cleaner diesel engines for the future, but also reduces emissions from existing engines.”
During the announcement, Administrator Leavitt thanked Caterpillar for taking the lead in support for the EPA’s program, and encouraged others to join in the effort.
| Words of Thanks from Grant Recipients |
"This is an example of how our country should work – officials from private industry and from the public sector forming a partnership for forward progress. We appreciate the generosity of Caterpillar and are honored to have been chosen to be among the first in the nation to have this innovative equipment installed on our school buses." "Receiving any grant that helps clean our community's air is both a thrill and honor. This is further magnified by the fact that this particular grant comes from the private sector, Caterpillar, doing their part in helping both the EPA's Clean School Bus USA mission and the Tucson community." |
“Through successful public and private partnerships like this one with Caterpillar, Clean School Bus USA is making tremendous strides in cleaning up school bus emissions and improving air quality for our children,” Leavitt said. “I commend Caterpillar for their leadership in reducing diesel emissions and for their commitment to helping school districts implement solutions that will make the air cleaner for the more than 24 million children making the trip to school and back home on buses each day.”
At a reception recognizing the grant recipients, Caterpillar Vice President Bill Springer praised the districts for their proactive approach to emissions reduction.
“The school districts represented today display a passion for air quality worthy of praise in their communities,” Springer said. “At Caterpillar, we share their passion for cleaner air and commit to living up to our social responsibility by developing technology-enabled reduced emissions engines and by supporting initiatives like Clean School Bus USA that are focused on implementing air quality improvements nationwide.”
In April 2003, Caterpillar announced its support for Clean School Bus USA, a major initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designed to substantially reduce emissions from school buses across the nation. Founded in 2003, the EPA’s Clean School Bus USA program will help school districts and school bus fleet operators either replace older buses with newer models or install emissions control devices on existing buses.
In the first year of Clean School Bus USA, the EPA successfully demonstrated a $5-million pilot program to retrofit school buses around the country. Funding quickly ran out and more than 100 school district applications could not be filled. For the fiscal year 2005, the Bush Administration has asked Congress for $65 million to fund Clean School Bus USA, bringing the program to hundreds of cities and thousands of schools. The program’s goal is to update the nation’s entire school bus fleet by 2010. More information on Clean School Bus USA can be found on the EPA web site at http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus.
Caterpillar has reduced on-highway diesel emissions in trucks and buses by nearly 90 percent since 1988 and will reduce those emissions another 90 percent by 2007.
Last year, Caterpillar launched a new line of engines equipped with low emission ACERT® technology that powers school and transit buses as well as on-highway trucks. ACERT is a differentiated, breakthrough technology that reduces emissions at the point of combustion. The technology capitalizes on Caterpillar’s proven leadership in engine electronics, fuel injection systems and combustion technology. All Caterpillar on-highway truck and bus engines now in production are equipped with ACERT technology. The technology will also be used as the foundation to meet future emission regulations for the company’s entire diesel engine product line, including construction and mining machines and power generation units.
Monday, June 7, 2004