Boeing

The Boeing Company is a charter partner in a new air quality program announced today by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. The company will play a leading role in a public-private initiative designed to make emissions from diesel vehicles in the region up to 90 percent cleaner. The Diesel Solutions program will be led by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and includes participants from business and local and regional government.

Boeing and other partner organizations will retrofit diesel-powered vehicles to use an ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and modified exhaust systems to eliminate as much 90 percent of harmful vehicle emissions. Boeing will modify 70 vehicles which would typically use about 170,000 gallons of fuel per year.

"This program builds on our other clean air initiatives," said Kirk Thomson, Boeing Director of Environmental Affairs. "After taking steps to reduce waste and emissions from our manufacturing, we realized that the real issue for community clean air is vehicle use. We turned to employees and provided incentives for high-occupancy commuting and now more than 12,000 Boeing people in this region are enthusiastically leaving their single occupant vehicles at home. But we knew we needed to do more," Thomson said.

In remarks at an announcement conference in Seattle, attended by Whitman and local government leaders and private partners in the Diesel Solutions program, Thomson summarized the commitment of Boeing to the program. "We're proud to join this public-private partnership to further explore cleaner diesel technology."