FEDERAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH BY REDUCING DIESEL EMISSIONS

The document details the severe health risks of diesel particulate matter, including 21,000 annual deaths and increased cancer risks. It advocates for the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) to clean up the existing fleet of 11 million heavy-duty engines and proposes the Clean Construction Act of 2011 to integrate emission controls into federally funded transportation projects, capping costs at 1% of project totals.

• Diesel particulate matter is linked to approximately 21,000 deaths per year in the United States, with health damages estimated at $13 for every dollar spent on reducing the pollution.
• Diesel exhaust presents a significant cancer risk, estimated to be three times higher than the combined risk of all other air toxics tracked by the EPA, and is identified as a carcinogen by the EPA, the State of California, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
• Black carbon from diesel pollution is a potent global warming pollutant, approximately 2,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and diesel engines are responsible for more than half of the black carbon emissions in the US.
• The Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) has cleaned up 50,000 diesel vehicles and created nearly 9,000 jobs since its inception, with federal appropriations totaling $469.2 million.
• The proposed Clean Construction Act of 2011 aims to reduce PM2.5 emissions from older diesel construction equipment on federally funded projects in poor air quality areas by allowing retrofits as an eligible project expense capped at 1% of the project cost.
• The Clean Air Task Force estimates that the Clean Construction Act of 2011 would eliminate 9,000 tons of PM2.5 emissions and prevent nearly 1,000 premature deaths.
• Various US states and cities have already implemented Clean Construction specifications, including New York City, New York State, Illinois, Rhode Island, Chicago, and New Jersey.

APA

Schneider, C. G. (2011). FEDERAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH BY REDUCING DIESEL EMISSIONS. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093759/CATF_Testimony_EPA_Efforts_Reducing_Diesel.pdf

Chicago

Schneider, Conrad G. FEDERAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH BY REDUCING DIESEL EMISSIONS. Clean Air Task Force, 2011. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093759/CATF_Testimony_EPA_Efforts_Reducing_Diesel.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Schneider |first1=Conrad G. |title=FEDERAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH BY REDUCING DIESEL EMISSIONS |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=12 May 2011 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093759/CATF_Testimony_EPA_Efforts_Reducing_Diesel.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{schneider2011federal, author = {Schneider, Conrad G.}, title = {{FEDERAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH BY REDUCING DIESEL EMISSIONS}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2011}, month = may, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093759/CATF_Testimony_EPA_Efforts_Reducing_Diesel.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }