Clean School Bus Projects Awarded $5 Million
Seventeen projects demonstrating ways to reduce pollution from school buses have been announced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The projects are funded by a $5 million Clean School Bus USA grant program.
The effort aims to reduce children’s exposure to diesel exhaust across the United States by: (1) encouraging policies and practices to eliminate unnecessary school bus idling; (2) installing effective emission control systems on newer buses; and (3) replacing the oldest buses in the fleet with new ones. Replacement options may include buses powered by clean diesel or compressed natural gas.
The 17 projects selected provide a total of $4.7 million in matching funds. One grantee is a national association which will provide sub-grants to its members nationwide. The remaining projects will work to reduce pollution from school buses in the following states: Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California, and Washington.
The projects include:
–National School Transportation Association- The National School Transportation Association (NTSA), in partnership with its members, will establish and administer a sub-grant program to support clean diesel replacement, retrofit, and use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. NSTA represents companies that contract with school districts to provide bus service. Nationally about one-third of school districts contract their bus service.
–City of Medford — Medford, Mass.- The city of Medford will demonstrate how a small, urban Boston-area school district with a contract school bus fleet will retrofit 54 buses with diesel particulate matter filters and fuel the fleet of 65 buses with ultra low sulfur diesel fuel.
–Maine Department of Environmental Protection- The Maine Department of Environmental Protection will establish a sub-grant program to assist 21 primarily rural school districts across the state in acquiring diesel oxidation catalysts (through bulk purchasing) and retrofitting 266 buses with these catalysts. The state will also purchase 180 new buses as part of their match.
–Corning-Painted Post Area School District — Painted Post, N.Y.- The Corning Painted Post Area School District will demonstrate how a small, rural school district in upstate New York will retrofit 17 buses with diesel particulate matter filters and acquire ultra low sulfur diesel fuel for their fleet of 19 buses.
–North Allegheny School District — Pittsburgh, Pa.- The North Allegheny School District will demonstrate how a large, suburban Pittsburgh-area school district will retrofit its fleet of 84 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and work to bring ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel into an area where it is not currently available.
–General McLane School District — Edinboro, Pa.- The General McLane School District will demonstrates how a small, rural school district near Erie, Pa. will retrofit its fleet of 40 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts.
–Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency — Asheville, N.C.- The Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency will establish a sub-grant program to expand a pilot retrofit project and help four primarily rural counties (Buncombe, Haywood, Madison, and Transylvania Counties) buy diesel oxidation catalysts for 321 buses.
–Columbus Municipal School District — Columbus, Miss.- The Columbus Municipal School District will demonstrate how a small, rural school district in northeastern Mississippi will retrofit 47 of its fleet of 59 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts.
— Illinois Environmental Protection Agency- The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will assist a small, urban school district in Chicago, Ill. in retrofitting 14 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and in doing so, launch a Chicago area clean school bus initiative.
–Regional Air Pollution Control Agency — Dayton, Ohio- The Regional Air Pollution Control Agency will assist a small, urban school district that provides bus service to special needs children in retrofitting 33 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts.
–Cleveland Municipal School District — Cleveland, Ohio The Cleveland Municipal School District will demonstrate how a large, urban school district in Cleveland, Ohio will expand its current clean school bus initiative and sustain the availability of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel in the Cleveland area by retrofitting 36 buses with diesel particulate matter filters and fueling these buses with ultra low sulfur diesel fuel.
–Texas State Energy Conservation Office- The Texas State Energy Conservation Office will assist three large school districts (Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston) by retrofitting a total of about 73 buses with particulate matter filters, purchasing new diesel buses, and fueling the entire fleet with ultra low sulfur diesel.
–Regional Air Quality Council — Denver, Colo.- The Regional Air Quality Council will establish a sub-grant program that allows urban and rural school districts in 10 counties to evaluate performance of oxidation catalysts in 160 buses running on biodiesel fuel.
–Salt Lake Clean Cities Coalition — Salt Lake City, Utah- The Salt Lake Clean Cities Coalition will assist a large, urban school district that is already using some compressed natural gas buses to acquire 10 new buses that run on compressed natural gas to replace the district’s oldest diesel-fueled buses.
–Paradise Valley Unified School District no. 69 — Phoenix, Ariz.- The Paradise Valley Unified School District will demonstrate how a large, suburban school district near Phoenix, Ariz. will retrofit 20 buses with particulate matter filters, fuel 114 with ultra low sulfur diesel and introduce this fuel into an area of the country where it is not currently available.
–Clovis Unified School District — Clovis, Calif.- The Clovis Unified School District will demonstrate how a large, suburban school district near Fresno, Calif. will retrofit 53 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and evaluate their performance running on emulsified diesel fuel; plus retrofit nine buses with diesel particulate filters and fuel them with ultra low sulfur diesel fuel.
–Puget Sound Clean Air Agency — Seattle, Wash.- The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency will work with four other clean air agencies to assist four rural school districts in western Washington state in retrofitting 139 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and 21 with diesel particulate matter filters and use ultra low sulfur diesel fuel.
