HARRISONBURG, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – Virginia Clean Cities (VCC) at James Madison University received a $3.5 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to work with UPS on replacing diesel trucks in the Mid-Atlantic region with vehicles running on domestically produced compressed natural gas.

The Mid-Atlantic Nitrous Oxide Reduction Program II (MANOR II) will run for two years. UPS has matched the EPA grant with $13.9 million.

The grant will replace 72 short-haul heavy-duty diesel Class 8 UPS trucks in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Matthew Wade, VCC’s deputy director and MANOR II project leader, said in a news release that the project will reduce UPS’s diesel fuel usage by about 1.75 million gallons per year and significantly cut air pollution along interstate corridors.

“The MANOR II project award is one of many projects that VCC executes with communities, businesses and partners in the Mid-Atlantic,” said Keith Holland, JMU’s associate vice president for research and economic development. “JMU’s Division of Research, Economic Development and Innovation is grateful for the 15-year partnership with VCC and its efforts to reduce transportation-related pollution impacts in our communities through grant-funded public service and outreach.”

VCC administered the first MANOR grant of over $2 million in 2019 and worked with UPS to replace 79 diesel trucks in the Mid-Atlantic region with vehicles using cleaner domestically produced compressed natural gas or newer, cleaner diesel engines.

The U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities and Communities partnership sponsors VCC. In 2009, it partnered with JMU to leverage resources, initiatives and future opportunities.