Anheuser-Busch will install pollution reducing equipment in 15 delivery trucks that will operate out of its Bronx, N.Y. location. Busch also has committed to using biodiesel for its Bronx fleet, and converting the trucks manufactured between 2002 and 2005, as well as 14 additional trucks, to burn natural gas, the EPA announced.
The move is part of a partnership the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority announced by the U.S. EPA.
“Pollution from diesel trucks has health implications for everyone, especially asthmatic children,” said the EPA’s Alan J. Steinberg. “In partnering with Anheuser-Busch, we are cutting diesel pollution in an area that has a high percentage of kids who suffer from asthma.”
A $150,000 grant, awarded by EPA on behalf of the Northeast Diesel Collaborative, will equip the 15 trucks, or twenty percent of Busch’s Bronx fleet, with diesel filters and closed crankcase filtration systems.
The diesel multi-stage filters will reduce particulate matter emissions by an estimated 70 to 80 percent. The closed crankcase filtration system eliminates 100 perecnt of crankcase emissions for medium-duty engines, the EPA says.