HARRISBURG – Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced that the commonwealth has received a $1.5 million Clean Diesel Emerging Technology Grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to upgrade the diesel engines of a towboat operating in the Pittsburgh area.
“The Port of Pittsburgh is the busiest port in the nation in terms of total trips made, and as a result, Allegheny County has the highest annual diesel emissions from commercial marine vessels of any county in Pennsylvania,” Rendell said. “With this funding we’ll be able to upgrade these towboat engines, which will help improve air quality in the region, cut fuel costs for the operator and create or retain as many as 32 jobs.”
The Recovery Act grant will pay Cleveland Brothers of Murrysville to overhaul both diesel engines on the Pittsburgh-based vessel Champion Coal to reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency. The towboat is owned by Consol Energy and moves freight on a 200-mile stretch of the Monongahela and Ohio rivers.
The Champion Coal towboat operates for approximately 8,000 hours each year and consumes more than 600,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually. The engine upgrades will reduce harmful air emissions by more than 86 tons per year and cut fuel usage by five percent, saving nearly 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel or nearly $86,000 each year of operation.
After the upgrade, Cleveland Brothers will run a series of field tests to verify engine system performance through the first 1,000 hours of operation. The rebuilt engines will have a service life in excess of 30 years.
“This is the latest in a series of steps we’ve taken including electrifying truck stops along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, restricting idling of heavy-duty diesel vehicles and upgrading railroad engines to improve air quality and reduce diesel emissions across the state,” Rendell said. “The towboat engine upgrades are a cost-effective way to reduce marine vehicle emissions and improve air quality.”
One hundred tugboats service freight movements along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers. Consol Energy operates nearly 30 of those boats. Allegheny County contains 102 of the 191 piers, wharves and docks in the seven-county area around Pittsburgh.
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