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Hospitals
agree to put cleaner fuel in trucks
Pollution
-
MICHAEL
MILSTEIN
Local hospitals will banish
those choking black clouds of smoke that puff from diesel engines under a
first-of-its-kind program to help clean up one of the most serious pollutants
in local skies.
Leaders of the area's four
major hospital systems said Monday that they would expand their use of cleaner
diesel fuel and install control equipment on their vehicles -- and direct their
suppliers to do the same.
At the same time,
The city
initiative also is thought to be the first of its kind in the country,
officials said.
Diesel pollution exceeds
healthy levels throughout the metro area, posing an average cancer risk 14
times higher than is considered safe, according to an analysis by the Oregon
Department of Environmental Quality.
About a quarter of the
cancer risk from breathing local air comes from diesel particles.
The moves come just as the
federal government began requiring trucks, buses and other road-going vehicles to
burn less-polluting ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel.
The hospitals are going a
step further and using the cleaner fuel in construction equipment and backup
generators where it isn't yet required.
The cleaner fuel combined
with filters and other control devices can eliminate 95 percent of a diesel
truck's nastiest emissions -- major contributors to asthma, bronchitis and
cardiovascular disease.
The local steps should serve
as example of how to reduce pollution without compromising the diesel trucks
that shuttle freight across the country, officials said.
The designation of
"Clean Diesel Hospital Zones" around the hospitals of
"We struggle with the
idea of people coming to the hospital to get better and being exposed to
polluted air," said Skai Dancey,
director of facilities operations at
Officials hope the clean air
efforts will encourage broader retrofitting of vehicles in the region.
The hospital project is
supported by a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
that will fund pollution control devices for trucks and subsidize the cost of
cleaner burning diesel and biodiesel fuel.
"Hopefully, our money
will help show that it can be done on a big scale," said Peter Murchie of the EPA. "If you keep pushing, you'll
eventually reach a tipping point."
Providence Health Systems
operates about 22 diesel trucks that haul home medical equipment and provide
other services. Those trucks will get pollution controls and may also use biodiesel, said Dan Stevens of
"These are trucks that
are just out in our neighborhoods," he said.
The shift to 20 percent biodiesel fuel by garbage and recycling trucks in
The push for biodiesel should help foster a greater supply of the
less-polluting fuel, he said. It will also help create economic opportunities
for
Hospital leaders said their
work on clean air is also fostering cooperation between the hospitals on other
environmental priorities. For instance, together they may strike a better deal
to buy biodegradable food containers that makes them a more cost-effective
option, Stevens said.
Michael Milstein:
503-294-7689; michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com