ATLANTA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the Alabama Department of Transportation with a Southeast Diesel Collaborative (SEDC) Community Leadership Award for efforts to reduce fleet diesel emissions, according to a release from the EPA.

As stated by the EPA, the Alabama DOT’s accomplishments are:

• Implementing a fleet replacement program to auction older diesel vehicles to acquire vehicles and equipment that meet the 2007 and 2010 diesel emission standards

• Retrofitting 312 on-road and off-road vehicles and equipment with diesel oxidation catalysts, either stand-alone or in concert with a closed crankcase ventilation system

• Maintaining a fleet of 1,256 alternative-fuel vehicles and supporting the development of biofuels infrastructure in Alabama

• Deploying GPS units in two-thirds of its fleet to ensure accountability with its no-idle policy.

EPA Region 4 Air, Pesticides, and Toxics Management Division Director Beverly Banister presented the SEDC Leadership Awards at a recent SEDC meeting.

Other awardees are Staples Inc., for use of electric delivery trucks and efficiently initiatives that reduce fleet emissions and the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition for helping with the purchase of the Kentucky Department of Transportation’s hybrid trucks and managing alternative-fuel projects across the state.

This is the fourth year the SEDC Leadership Council has presented the Leadership Awards to recognize exemplary projects in emissions reductions in EPA Region 4. Nominated parties are judged on their effectiveness in meeting the SEDC’s goal to reduce emissions from existing diesel engines and the work done in several sectors to reduce these emissions. Previous years’ winners include United Parcel Service, Coca Cola Enterprises, Ingram Barge Company, the North Carolina Solar Center, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Miami-Dade County, Florida Government.

The Southeast Diesel Collaborative is part of EPA’s National Clean Diesel Campaign, a program combining regulatory measures with voluntary initiatives to reduce the pollution emitted from diesel engines across the country.