300 Natural Resources & Environment:Eliminate the National Clean Diesel Campaign
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201620
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201720
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201820
-
201921
-
202021
-
202122
-
202222
-
202323
-
202423
-
202524
-
2016-2020102
-
2016-2025216
Sources
Savings are expressed as budget authority and were calculated by using the FY 2014 enacted spending levels as found on page 810 of EPA, “Fiscal Year 2015: Justification of Appropriation Estimates for the Committee on Appropriations,” March 2014. The 2014 enacted level was increased at the same rate as discretionary spending for 2016–2025, according to the CBO’s most recent August 2014 baseline spending projections.
×Technical Notes on Scoring
CBO Baseline
Unless otherwise noted, calculations for savings for each recommendation relies on the most recent Congressional Budget Office baseline, as found in “An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024,” published August 27, 2014, has been used.
Savings “Totals”
While totals for the five and 10 year savings are provided by section and for the complete set of recommendations, there are two reasons they should not be viewed as representing total savings for The Budget Book.
First, as noted in the introduction, The Heritage Foundation would recommend that the savings realized in the Function 050 Defense section would stay within the Department of Defense to strengthen the nation’s defense capabilities.
Second, the numbers cannot be deemed to represent the realized savings if every single recommendation were adopted because policy changes made in one program can impact spending levels in other programs. Thus, the numbers in the table do not reflect any potential interactions between the various policy changes affecting spending or savings.
×Heritage Recommendation:
Eliminate the National Clean Diesel Campaign (NCDC), commonly called the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) grant program. This proposal saves $20 million in 2016, and $216 million over 10 years.
Rationale:
While Congress only authorized $30 million for the EPA’s clean diesel program in 2012, hundreds of millions have been spent over the years to develop more than 60,000 pieces of clean diesel technology, such as “emissions and idle control devices, aerodynamic equipment, engine and vehicle replacements, and alternative fuel options.” Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grants have been used to pay for new or retrofitted tractors and cherry pickers in Utah ($750,000), electrified parking spaces at a Delaware truck stop ($1 million), a new engine and generators for a 1950s locomotive in Pennsylvania ($1.2 million), school buses in San Diego County ($1.6 million), and new equipment engines for farmers in the San Joaquin Valley ($1.6 million). Though these projects might have merit, federal taxpayers should not have to pay for projects that should be undertaken by private investors or state and local groups. If these technologies are economically viable and consumer demand exists, these products will be developed without the help of taxpayers.
Contributing Expert

Nicolas (Nick) Loris, an economist, focuses on energy, environmental and regulatory issues as the Herbert and Joyce Morgan fellow at The Heritage Foundation.


Nicolas (Nick) LorisHerbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow
Heritage Experts

Jack Spencer oversees Heritage Foundation research on a wide range of domestic economic issues as director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies. Those topics include federal spending, taxes, energy and environment, regulation and retirement savings.


Jack SpencerVice President for the Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity

Katie Tubb is a Research Associate and Coordinator in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies


Katie TubbResearch Associate and Coordinator
Additional Reading
- Nicolas Loris, “EPA Is Desperately in Need of Budget Cuts. Here’s a Few Places to Start,” The Daily Signal, July 10, 2014.
- Katrina Trinko, “Heritage Experts Weigh in on Massive Omnibus Spending Bill,” The Daily Signal, January 13, 2014.
- The Heritage Foundation, “Environmental Conservation: Eight Principles of the American Conservation Ethic.”