HOLLIS, N.H. --- The Hollis/Brookline School District has received a $162,850 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to retrofit 25 buses to run on biodiesel and operate with pollution-control equipment.

Hollis Transportation, which the district contracts for busing service, said the retrofit project may cut fleet emissions as much as 60 to 70 percent, reported the Nashua Telegraph newspaper.

The pollution-control equipment will include a crank case ventilation system and a diesel particulate matter filter. The grant will pay for the equipment as well as the price difference between biodiesel and regular diesel for a year.

The grant is part of a larger $762,000 fund the EPA distributed regionally. The agency also recently announced that another $5.4 million will become available for other clean diesel projects in the Northeast. That money will be distributed under the 2008 Northeast Diesel Collaborative's Emissions Reductions Program.