newjerseynewsroom.com

NJ Transit has completed the retrofitting of 760 older style diesel-engine buses with technology designed to control harmful diesel exhausts, state officials announced Wednesday.

The retrofitting is described as part of a long-term statewide strategy designed to reduce air pollution. The retrofitting is financed by the state's Diesel Risk Mitigation Fund, a program created under a 2005 law that requires installation of diesel emission control equipment on older diesel-powered on-road vehicles.

“Exhaust from diesel-powered vehicles, especially older vehicles, is a source of harmful pollutants, and especially impacts residents in our more congested, urban areas,” Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said. “That's something we are working to remedy.”

"A cleaner, greener and more sustainable transit fleet is critical to preserving our quality of life in the Garden State,'' NJ Transit Director James Weinstein said.

In addition to 760 retrofitted NJ Transit buses, more than 1,200 solid waste collection trucks have had diesel emissions control equipment installed in the past several years in New Jersey. The retrofits and other scheduled retrofits for commercial passenger buses and publicly-owned on-road and non-road vehicles are expected to reduce particulate emissions by more than 100 tons per year statewide.

Additionally, NJ Transit continues to modernize its existing bus fleet. The agency is replacing 1,145 older buses with new transit-style buses that are equipped with modern emission control devices and which run on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.

The new buses feature an improved engine design, and contain a soot filter to reduce particulates and utilize a diesel oxidation catalyst, resulting in an 80 percent reduction in particulate matter and 90 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions.

Diesel emissions pose a greater cancer risk than any other air pollutant in the state. Diesel emissions contain microscopic particles filled with organic substances and metals. Diesel exhaust is linked to premature deaths, asthma and allergies, strokes, heart and lung disease, chronic respiratory disease and other ailments.

New Jersey's mandatory diesel retrofit program is one of several strategies the DEP is employing to reduce harmful diesel emissions. Other programs include the mandatory inspection and maintenance of diesel on-road vehicles, enforcement of the state's anti-idling law, and Gov. Chris Christie's executive order No. 60, which calls for several pilot studies of diesel retrofits at NJDOT construction sites.

—TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM