Pictured by the Clean Diesel in Kentucky Construction banner at the construction site on campus are: from left to right, Jim Philpot, excavating contractor, Philpot Enterprises; Clifford Huddleston, job superintendent, Hacker Brothers General Contracting; Kyle Gilbert, vice president for operations at University of the Cumberlands, and David Jackson, president, Hacker Brothers General Contracting

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. — Officials at University of the Cumberlands are pleased to announce that two private contractors now working on campus are participating in a program that encourages environmental stewardship through voluntary participation for a cleaner, healthier Kentucky.

Philpot Enterprises, currently conducting the excavation project on campus, and Hacker Brothers General Contracting, who will be responsible for the construction of the new health and wellness center, both of London, are among more than 35 of Kentucky’s leading construction companies involved in a project called Clean Diesel in Kentucky Construction.

A $2.5 million, federally funded grant to the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Kentucky will enable participants to retrofit, repower or rebuild heavy diesel equipment and promote reduced idling at 100 construction sites across the state, of which Cumberlands is one. The result will be an estimated reduction of 72.55 tons of air pollutants per year, including nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.

“University of the Cumberlands is pleased to work closely with companies that seriously consider environmental impact in their policies and procedures,” said Kyle Gilbert, vice-president of operations at UC.

Out of 98 proposals submitted to EPA Region IV last year, AGC of Kentucky was one of one of only nine applicants in the Southeast to receive this grant, which will bring more than two million federal stimulus dollars to the state.