New Arkansas Department of Transportation trucks cost $1.1M, emit fewer pollutants

Cleaner-emissions vehicles provided by VW settlement

Marie Holder, a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission, addresses the media during a news conference in Little Rock on  to announce the purchase of seven new lower-emission trucks.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
Marie Holder, a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission, addresses the media during a news conference in Little Rock on to announce the purchase of seven new lower-emission trucks. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Seven new heavy-duty trucks the Arkansas Department of Transportation purchased under a special program will emit 17.3 fewer tons of a smog-forming pollutant than the vehicles they replace, according to state environmental officials.

The $1.1 million that the cleaner-burning trucks cost will come from $14.7 million that was allocated to the state as a result of two partial consent decrees totaling $2.7 billion in a case filed against Volkswagen, accusing the automaker of violating the federal Clean Air Act, the department said.

Volkswagen sold more than 500,000 diesel-engine vehicles from 2009 to 2016 that contained devices to defeat the vehicles' emission controls. The devices result in up to 40% higher nitrogen oxide emissions during regular driving.

Arkansas' share of the Environmental Mitigation Trust funds are designed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions primarily by replacing old high-emitting vehicles with newer models that burn cleaner.

Agency officials showed off their new vehicles Friday at equipment and procurement division building off Baseline Road in Little Rock. The trucks replaced the worst-polluting vehicles in the department's fleet, according to an analysis by the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment, which administers the trust fund.

The trucks, which include three dump trucks, replace trucks that ranged in age from 13 to 21 years old.

"With today's automotive technology, these new trucks will result in cleaner emissions as they are used day to day by our crews," said Lorie Tudor, the director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

The money was awarded under State Agency Fleet Emissions Reduction Grant program, which set aside 8%, or $1.1 million, of the Volkswagen settlement money earmarked for Arkansas.

"DOT gave us a very competitive proposal and we were happy to award that money for these vehicles," said Becky Keogh, the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment secretary.

Other programs in the state's mitigation plan include one that will fund up to 75% of the purchase price of of up to 20 low-emission compressed natural gas buses at three school districts in Arkansas. A total of $7.9 million, or 54%, has been allocated for that program. All were approved by the trustee for the national Volkswagen trust, Keogh said.

A total of $3.1 million has been allocated for projects, including for the purchase of the Transportation Department trucks. Less than $1 million has been spent.

The Transportation Department won't receive its money until it can show that the seven trucks replaced under the terms of its grant have been scrapped. Often times, the trucks can fetch fair prices at auction, but the program is designed to eliminate the trucks as future sources of pollution.

A reduction in the number of diesel-powered vehicles will help reduce nitrogen oxides, a family of poisonous, reactive gases that form when fuel is burned at high temperatures, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They form from emissions from cars, trucks, buses, power plants and off-road equipment, such as construction machines and boats.

Nitrogen oxide pollution often appears as a brownish gas and, as a strong oxidizing agency, plays a major role in the atmospheric reactions with volatile organic compounds that produce ozone, or smog, on hot summer days, the EPA said.

Few Arkansas organizations have more fossil-burning vehicles than the department fleet, which is required to help maintain the 16,000-mile state highway system.

The department has about 700 trucks, including 360 multi-axle trucks like the seven 2021 Freightliner 1145SDs, three of which are dump trucks. They represent 1% of the fleet.

But Danny Keene, the head of the department's equipment and procurement division, said the new trucks replace the fleet's worst-polluting trucks, based on an analysis by Keogh's agency.

They were the worst diesel emission vehicles we had that would have the most impact on our carbon footprint," Keene said. "Every little bit helps."

Replacing higher-emission trucks with cleaner-burning trucks is a "win-win" for the environment because the department relies on them so heavily, said Marie Holder, a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission from Little Rock.

"I can guarantee you ... these vehicles will be put to use every single day," she said.

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