TERP Grants Fund "Green Goats"

0 Comments | Environmental Insider News, August 2, 2004

While his colleagues were sweating bullets at a lengthy agenda in Austin, TCEQ Commissioner R. B. "Ralph" Marquez was sharing a stage in Houston with Governor Rick Perry as he announced the winners of over $80.89 million in grants under the Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP). Collectively, the grants are supposed to generate reductions of 13,000 tons per year (tpy) of nitrogen oxides emissions, the equivalent of removing 182,000 automobiles from state roadways every day.

The bulk of the money went to two metropolitan areas threatened with economic sanctions for failure to attain the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ground-level ozone. In the Houston-Galveston area, 43 projects will remove an estimated 3.72 tons per day (tpd) of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and 5,690 tons over the life of the program at a cost of $36.4 million. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 93 projects will lower NOX emissions by a combined 3.78 tpd, or 5,564 tons over the life of the project, at a cost of $29.1 million.

Near-nonattainment areas were hardly shut out of the gift giving binge. A total of 43 projects, with funding of nearly $6.1 million, were awarded in the Austin area - thanks in part to the region's commitment to TERP-based emission reductions in its Early Action Compact. Other regions were awarded grants totaling -

* $2.5 million for four projects in the San Antonio area.

* $2.2 million for seven projects in the Beaumont-Port Arrthur area.

* $1.9 million for four projects in the Corpus Christi area.

* $828,390 for four projects in the Victoria area.

* $799,450 for two projects in the Tyler area.

* $457,018 for two projects in the El Paso area.

The big winners overall are railroad companies, who collectively raked in about 40% of the total grant monies - $32,391,500 in all. Way out in front was Union Pacific Railroad, which received grants totaling $13,227,500 to cover the costs of repowering or replacing switching locomotives at rail yards in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston using the Green GoatO Series hybrid yard locomotive technology designed by RailPower Technologies Corp., headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

In the patented Green GoatO system, the electric traction motors on the axles are powered by a large bank of custom-designed lead acid batteries. The batteries are kept charged by a small generator driven by a diesel-fueled prime mover. Initial indications show these units are cheaper to purchase, cheaper to run, and cheaper to maintain than standard diesel switchers and produce considerably fewer pollutants.

The Green GoatO is estimated to generate an overall capital cost savings of 30% while reducing emissions of both NOX and particulate matter (PM) by 80% to 90%. The equipment also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and diesel fuel consumption by 50% to 80% when compared with conventional yard switchers in the 1,000 to 2,000 horsepower range. Also receiving grants for installation of the Green GoatO switchers or other cleaner burning equipment were -

$8,305,000 to Railserve, Inc., Houston.

$3,450,000 to CANAC Transportation Management, Houston.

$3,020,000 to Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe Railroad, Dallas.

$1,750,000 to Kansas City Southern Railroad, Beaumont.

$ 916,000 to Watco Companies, Inc., Houston.

$ 594,000 to Rail Link Inc., dba RL Switching, Houston.

$ 585,000 to Galveston Railroad, LP, Galveston.

Three entities won grants to install auxiliary power unit idle reduction systems manufactured by EcoTrans Technologies LLC, Jacksonville, FL. This technology, as described by the U.S. Department of Energy, consists of a compact unit mounted on a skid which includes an EPA-emissions certified 48-horsepower, 4-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine. The engine is coupled to a 16-kilowatt, 240-volt, 60-Hertz single-phase generator with an automatic main engine shutdown timer circuit.

Upon shutdown, electric immersion heaters maintain the main engine's coolant water and lubrication oil temperatures, making it easier to restart the locomotive. Use of these units has been shown to reduce fuel consumption at idle by as much as 80% and to reduce locomotive emissions of NOX by 91%, hydrocarbons by 94%, carbon monoxide by 96%, and PM by 84%. Moreover, there is a substantial reduction in noise levels in neighborhoods located nearby freight terminals and large rail yards. Grants went to -

$ 442,000 to Trans Global Solutions, Houston.

$ 68,000 to Trans Global Solutions, Beaumont.

$ 34,000 to Alamo Gulf Coast Railroad, San Antonio.

Another $5,158,045 in grants, all in the Houston-Galveston or Beaumont-Port Arthur areas, will be for cleaner marine vessels, including repowering diesel engines on tugboats and push boats. These projects, which collectively will eliminate 965.67 tpy of NOX, include -

$1,892,000 to Buffalo Marine Services, Inc., for tug boats

$1,625,000 to Houston Marine Services, Inc., for push boats

$ 504,497 to Breathwit Marine Contractors, Inc., for push and low boats

$ 445,350 to Galveston Party Boats for vessels

$ 355,032 in two grants to Echo Towing Service, Inc., for push boats