About Us
Clean Air Northeast is a regionally coordinated initiative to reduce diesel emissions, improve public health, and promote clean diesel technology. It brings together the collective resources and expertise of several state environmental agencies, EPA regional offices, and private sector companies to address the existing fleet of diesel-powered vehicles and equipment.
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Where We Work
Through innovative projects, voluntary measures, and mandatory programs, Clean Air Northeast and its partners target the primary sectors contributing to diesel emissions in the Northeast, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands:
- Municipal (school buses, refuse haulers, and other public works vehicles)
- Transit (transit buses and commuter locomotives)
- Ports/Authorities (ferries, tugboats, large ocean-going vessels, and port vehicles and equipment)
- Construction (cranes, pavers, excavators, and front loaders)
- Freight (trucks, locomotives and locomotive switchers)
Strategies and Activities
Clean Air Northeast Priorities
The Clean Air Northeast Steering Committee and Advisory Subcommittee establish a set of priorities that Clean Air Northeast agrees to focus on for the coming years.
We work at the local and regional levels to:
- Educate the public, lawmakers, and public and private fleet operators about the importance of and strategies for reducing diesel emissions
- Integrate and expand existing programs
- Create new partnerships, programs, and other measures to reduce emissions
- Demonstrate new technologies and expand the use of proven technologies
- Improve data on emission and fleet inventories as well as exposure and health effects
Specific activities include:
- Retrofit, retire, and replace older engines
- Promote idling alternatives for truckers, such as truck stop electrification and auxiliary power units
- Work with states on enforceable measures to reduce idling
- Promote use of clean diesel technologies in contract specifications
- Promote cleaner fuels
- Create educational opportunities and materials for key sectors and stakeholders
- Measure and assess program effectiveness
Who We Are
Clean Air Northeast members include:
- EPA Region 1 (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut)
- EPA Region 2 (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands)
- The environmental agencies of the 8 northeastern states and 2 Caribbean Territories
- Members of the Ports & Goods Movement, Clean Construction, Funding, and Strategic Planning Work Groups, represented by multiple sectors
Steering Committee & Advisory Subcommittee
The Steering Committee, consisting of management staff from the EPA Regional Offices, the diesel emissions reduction program managers within the state and territorial air quality agencies, and designated NESCAUM staff, is the goal-setting body of Clean Air Northeast. The Air Program leadership from EPA Regions 1 and 2 oversee the Steering Committee and ultimately ratify the policies and goals of Clean Air Northeast.
Gary Rennie
US EPA Region 1
Office of Air and Radiation
Reema Loutan
US EPA Region 2
Air and Radiation Division
Patrice P. Kelly
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Bureau of Air Management
Lynne Cayting
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Air Quality
Haidee Janak
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Air and Climate
Rebecca Ohler
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
Air Resources Division
Peg Hanna
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Diesel Risk Reduction Program
Scott Wajda-Griffin, P.E.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Bureau of Mobile Sources & Technology Development
Allison Archambault
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
Office of Air Resources
Dierdra Ritzer
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation
Air Quality and Climate Division