Boston Diesel Pollution Monitoring Event Related Information

ENE Stages Successful Diesel Pollution Monitoring and Awareness Event in Boston   November 2007

ENE and its partners in the Massachusetts Diesel Pollution Solution Coalition staged a successful diesel truck monitoring event on October 22, 2007 at the John Marshall Elementary School in Dorchester. The event was held to draw attention to Senate Bill 502 calling for most state-owned heavy duty vehicles and municipal garbage and

recycling trucks, to install pollution retrofits by 2011 and 2012, respectively. SB 502, and its companion bill in the house, HB 732 (Coakley-Rivera), would also establish a multi-million “Diesel Emissions Reduction Fund” to help private companies, such as trucking and construction companies, clean up their fleets.

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) Senior Scientist Bruce Hill used an air pollution monitor to demonstrate how diesel particulate filters (DPFs), such as those mandated by the bill, reduce tailpipe soot particle emissions up to 90%.  Dr. Hill measured the pollution emitted by a retrofitted clean-diesel truck, and comparing it to the emissions from a traditional diesel-powered vehicle of comparable weight and size. He found particles levels emitted by the retrofitted truck to be comparable to levels found in outdoor air, while the particle levels emitted by the dirty truck were roughly 100 times higher.

Emissions from non-retrofitted diesel truck
Photos from Clean Air Task Force

 Emissions from retrofitted diesel truck

ENE and its partners advocate for policies that require retrofits like this one because their effectiveness in reducing local air pollution has been well established. Pictured above are the results from a similar, previously-conducted CATF experiment on a 30 foot box diesel truck before and after retrofitting with a DPF. The bottom picture shows that “PM 2.5,” (fine particulate matter that is particularly dangerous to health, with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less) levels were the same as outside air after the retrofitting.

The event was part of ENE’s New England Diesel Initiative, which is working to advance regulations to reduce diesel emissions from heavy-duty diesel fleets in three New England states with high pollution levels. ENE built coalitions of health and community groups that have succeed in securing commitments and funding to clean up school buses fleets in all three states, but other fleets remain to be retrofitted.

Senator Jack Hart, co-sponsor of SB 502, Sam Krasnow, ENE policy analyst and attorney, and members of the community spoke at the Dorchester event. Fourth and fifth graders from the school came outside to get a lesson in diesel pollution and its solution.  High school students active in the diesel “soot patrols,” which monitor diesel activity in their community also attended the event.