SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah – Utah Department of Transportation crews are working around the clock. When one storm clears, they’re gearing up for the next one. With a lot of time spent on the road, some of their trucks have a new, cleaner feature.
Thirty snow plows along the Wasatch Front are retrofitted with a new filter.
Essentially, as the diesel burns it has particulate matter coming out of the engine. This filter will catch it and not let it emit out the tailpipe.
What these filters do is they take a truck that UDOT wasn’t going to replace for five to seven years, and they’ll give us the advantage of a newer, cleaner, technology on diesel engines so we don’t have to wait for the benefit of replacing the truck,” said Jeff Casper, UDOT equipment operations manager.
UDOT worked closely with the Department of Environmental Quality to lessen their pollution output.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us. I think we should try and lead the way in cleaner air. We’re trying to do other technology such as compressed natural gas and some different avenues that way this fits our plow trucks the best,” Casper said.
Alan Matheson, Executive Director for DEQ, said state agencies are trying to lead by example by trading out state fleets and adopting travel wise reduction plans for employees. They encourage others to follow suit.
“There’s a program that’s been funded by the state to help small businesses comply with full air quality,” Matheson said.
He adds: “The carrot program is used to help trade out old, heavy diesel engines and to allow people to bring in their old highly polluting lawnmower and get credit for an electric lawnmower.”
This is new terrain for UDOT, but they plan to roll out more green features in the near future.
