EPA Budget Would Cut Clean Diesel Funding

The Obama administration’s proposed budget would cut funding for clean-diesel technology grants, Bloomberg reported.

The budget released Monday would cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Diesel Program, which Congress reauthorized in December for five years at a cost of $500 million.

The program pays for local and state grants to retrofit diesel trucks, buses and construction equipment, Bloomberg said. It had given grants since 2005, benefitting manufacturers such as Cummins Inc. and Navistar International Corp.

Last year, the program received $80 million in funding.

The administration’s proposal, which would fund the government in its 2012 fiscal year, would also cut a $49 million hydrogen fuel-cell program in the Department of Energy.