Additional Resources

Retrofit Technology Providing "More Goodies" for Missoula Air Quality

By Bill Schwanke

Steve Earle must think this would be a good week to buy a lottery ticket.

On Tuesday the general manager of Missoula’s Mountain line unveiled five new biofuel-powered buses just added to his mass transit fleet with the help of significant federal funding. Wednesday it was announced that Caterpillar, Inc. will retrofit the diesel engines on his remaining, older buses to make them run with less impact on Missoula’s air.

The announcement came during a conference sponsored by the Diesel Technology Forum, a nonprofit group headquartered in Maryland that promotes the conversion of older diesel engines by replacing original mufflers with a combination catalyzed converter-muffler designed to remove 20 percent of particulate matter from a vehicle’s exhaust and up to 90 percent of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.

Montana Sen. Conrad Burns was the keynote speaker for the conference. He said the retrofits are one wave of the future that should be especially welcome in Missoula.

“We get air inversions in the wintertime,” Burns noted. “Diesel is used a lot in this valley. So this retrofit, for the investment, will have a good return for us here in Montana.”

Burns was behind legislation that appropriated $20 million for grants to help with the retrofit process along with money for more research and development. Burns anticipates that more funding will be forthcoming even if the technology changes in the future.

The senator also celebrated the fact that two products used in producing the converters come from Montana - palladium from the Stillwater Mine and talc from two sites in the state including Barretts Minerals near Dillon.

Earle said the retrofit will happen at a lot lower cost than replacement vehicles. The process should be completed by the end of December.

“The other important part of this is the transit industry across the United States has always been responsible for leading the way in emissions controls,” Earle added. “Public transportation and the equipment we run is a good testing ground for programs like this. That makes Mountain Line a key player and we’re just thrilled to have the opportunity.”

Rocky Smith, operations manager at Barretts Minerals, said the converters will be a big boost to his company’s business since Corning - a current supplier of the retrofit technology - is a long-term customer. Smith said over the next three or four years Barretts in Dillon will see a significant increase in production.

Ken Katch, Caterpillar’s emissions solutions group director from Peoria, Ill., said his company is helping to build awareness of the capability to retrofit “the existing diesel population and how important it is to do that in an economically sustainable way.”

He said a number of things came together that led to the assistance for Mountain Line.

“We’re very involved with Corning,” Katch said, “and they told us that the talc came from Montana. And that led us to the path of talking to Mountain Line and they were very willing to work with us to do this.”

It’s not the first project for Caterpillar which has completed retrofits in Asheville, N.C. and the Port of Cleveland. And he said he anticipates his company will continue to do similar products “to build awareness around the country.”