The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Chicago-based Region 5 has awarded a $59,120 grant to the Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker School District in Pigeon for a project to cut diesel emissions from the district's school buses.

EPA officials said the grant will be used to retrofit 12 school buses with emission-reducing diesel oxidation catalysts and replace the district's heaviest polluting bus with a new, low-emission bus.

In addition, the district will start using B20, a blend of 20 percent diesel fuel from vegetable oils and 80 percent conventional petroleum diesel fuel. The district will also hold a workshop for other Huron County school districts on the benefits of operating with B20 and installing diesel oxidation catalysts on their buses.

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