The Department of Environmental Conservation [1] has launched Operation ECO-Quality Initiative [2]. It combines enhanced outreach, consultation, and community policing activities to help prevent pollution in some areas of New York with the dirtiest air.

Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings joined state and federal officials to launch the initiative in traffic-congested South Albany.DEC Region 4 Director Gene Kelly said up to a dozen environmental conservation officers will check vehicles and businesses in the Albany area, the Times-Union [3] reported. The program, also is being conducted in parts of Rensselaer and in Amsterdam in Montgomery County. It is modeled after a 2010 pilot program in Westchester County.

"We will be looking at places like auto body shops, auto salvage facilities, gas stations, diesel trucks and dry cleaners," Kelly said. "The goal is not to burden small business with citations, but to work with them to achieve environmental compliance."

DEC is launching similar enforcement efforts in the South Bronx of New York City, in Wyandanch on Long Island and in low-income neighborhoods in Buffalo.

The DEC program will not include train emissions, which are controlled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Federal emissions limits apply to newer diesel trains, said EPA spokesman Elias Rodriguez, but not to the majority of train engines still in use.