MARIETTA, Ga. — The Cobb County School District's transportation department was awarded a $1.24 million grant from the EPA to reduce diesel emissions from school buses.

The funds are provided under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009 National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. Under this funding competition, EPA Region 4 alone received 98 grant applications requesting more than $140 million to help fund clean diesel emissions projects. The award recipient was chosen to maximize both economic impact and emissions reductions.

The grant will be used to retrofit 108 Cobb County school buses with diesel particulate filters and 480 buses with advanced engine idle control systems. The result will be an estimated vehicle lifetime emissions reduction of 13.7 tons of nitrogen oxides from idle controls, .56 tons of particulate matter from filters and idle controls, 2.2 tons of carbon monoxide from filters, .80 tons of hydrocarbons from filters and 480 tons of carbon dioxide from idle controls. Georgia Tech and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources will partner with the district to implement the new systems.

"Along with our new partners at Georgia Tech, we will be tracking and analyzing emissions reduction data and reporting back to the EPA to show the positive impact the grant will have on our community," Transportation Director Rick Grisham said.