HOUSTON, Tex. — Bealine Service Company has received a nearly $900,000 grant to convert its aging fleet with new, clean-burning diesel engines.

The handout is courtesy of the regionally-administered Clean Vehicles program organized by the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC).

The funding allows the intrastate carrier to replace 24 of its 36 engines.

"We believe we can positively impact our community by replacing engines with new cleaner-burning diesel technology," said Jack Beal, owner of Bealine Service Company. "H-GAC’s Clean Vehicles program created a win-win situation for our company and the environment by helping us financially to convert a significant number of our engines quickly."

H-GAC predicts the upgrade will remove 13.75 tonnes of NOx from the air each year which is the equivalent of removing 2,000 cars from the road. Bealine qualified for the funding because it does the majority of its business in an eight county Houston non-attainment area where the air quality does not meet Environmental Protection Agency standards.

The fleet will replace its engines at a rate of one per month over the next 24 months. Bealine is required to destroy its old engines to remove them from circulation.

H-GAC has handed out more than $17 million through 24 Clean Vehicle projects. It claims to have removed more than 230 tonnes of NOx from the environment as a result of these investments. Fleets that qualify can visit www.houston-cleancities.org to apply for a grant.