MOUNT VERNON — Officials from the Kokosing Construction Co. met with the Knox County Commissioners on Thursday to see if the county would have an interest in partnering with the Fredericktown company to pursue a special round of grants being offered by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The grants, to be administered by the Ohio Department of Development, offer 80 percent reimbursement funds to companies undertaking a planned project to lower diesel engine emissions of particulate matter and noxious fumes. To be eligible for the grants, however, Kokosing must have a public partner involved in the application and reporting process.
Kokosing senior vice president Barth Burgett said that Knox County’s status as a “non-attainment” region for ozone pollution standards might actually give the project an edge in the grant approval process.
“This might be the silver lining in the cloud that rolled over us,” said Commissioner Allen Stockberger. Knox County suffers in air standard ratings by being sometimes downwind from the urban pollution of the Columbus metropolitan area.
Stockberger asked if the majority of Kokosing’s equipment were used outside the county.
Kokosing industrial construction manager Jim Fox said that while they have work crews all over the state, a lot of their equipment is involved in work on site, and fleet vehicles are frequently in and out of the site on their way to various project locations. He said that the grant requires that 65 percent of the applicants’ vehicular activities be in non-attainment areas. Between its Knox County location and its work in urban areas, Kokosing would be able to meet that requirement.
The grant would support updating or upgrading equipment engines to reduce diesel emissions by use of scrubbers, filters, anti-idling devices and particulate matter burners.
“They’re looking for the best cost per ton of particulate matter reduction,” said Kokosing parts and service manager Steve Green.
It would require the county, as public partner, to file reports on the progress of the project as it goes along, something for which Fox said Kokosing would reimburse the county. The county would also process bids for equipment upgrades.
Green said that the grant program will award points for matching funds, and will award higher points for particulate matter reductions than for noxious fume reductions, as equipment improvements to the former cost five times more than ones for the latter.
The commissioners said that they were strongly in favor of supporting the grant application. The Kokosing officials said that they would get a legal agreement drawn up for the proposal, while the commissioners will draft a resolution of support. The deadline for the grant application is Feb. 11.
