[1] The program provides grant funding to encourage the voluntary purchase of cleaner-than-required engines, equipment, and emission reduction technologies in an effort to rapidly reduce air pollution.
[3] As an added benefit, the program stimulates the local economy by providing more jobs for engine repair shops and helps businesses by offering incentives for maintenance they would have to implement eventually.
In 2008, the Air District upgraded 360 heavy-duty diesel engines, with 90% of funds awarded to projects in San Francisco Bay Area impacted communities.
[5] In 2007, the Air District upgraded 300 heavy-duty diesel engines, with 67% of funds awarded to projects in San Francisco Bay Area impacted communities.
During this same period it is estimated that the program helped to reduce lost workdays by 17,000 and prevented 2,800 asthma attacks and 100 premature deaths.
Once the inspection is complete, Strategic Incentives Division staff sends the applicant the grant agreement for review and signature.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Carl Moyer Program provides grants to public and private entities to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, reactive organic gases and particulate matter from existing heavy-duty engines by repowering, retrofitting, or replacing them.
In the Carl Moyer Program’s first seven years, from 1998 to 2004, the State of California provided a total of $170 million through annual legislative allocations.
The State collects and deposits into the Air Pollution Control Fund $6.00 (as of January, 2010) of the motor vehicle smog check fee to implement the Carl Moyer Program “to the extent that…the moneys are expended to mitigate or remediate the harm caused by the type of motor vehicle on which the fee is imposed”.
Additionally, Mobile Source Incentive Funds are derived from Assembly Bill 923 (AB923), authorizes Air Districts located within a non-attainment area for any pollutant to impose a surcharge of up to $2.00 on the registration fee of motor vehicles registered in its district in order to pay for Carl Moyer-like projects and other emission reduction programs.
2001 – New legislation requires local districts with populations of over one million to expend 50% of the program funds for projects that operate or are based in environmental justice areas.
The program examines TAC emissions with an emphasis on diesel exhaust, which is a major contributor to airborne health risk in California.