• Chairman Calls for Special Meeting on Diesel Generators
• AQMD Awards $17.9 Million to Purchase Cleaner School Buses
• In Other Action

AQMD Board Chairman William A. Burke called for a special Board meeting later this month to address the issue of air pollution from diesel backup generators.

Burke asked AQMD staff to prepare recommendations to reduce emissions from the generators, which are used by a wide range of facilities from hospitals to businesses to supply backup power during blackouts.

Of the 7,880 permitted backup generators in the Southland, 85% are diesel fueled and highly polluting. Per unit of energy produced, a diesel-powered backup generator emits up to five times as much smog-forming nitrogen oxides as a natural gas-powered model, and up to 600 times as much as a state-of-the-art power plant.

The Southland's clean air agency has approved $17.9 million in grants to 28 school districts to purchase 169 new, clean-burning natural gas school buses or less-polluting diesel models to help reduce children's exposure to toxic diesel soot.

"These compressed natural gas-powered buses, and lower-emission diesel models, will cut children's health risk from breathing diesel soot, which the State of California has declared a cancer-causing agent," said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

AQMD's action will fund the purchase of 102 compressed natural gas (CNG) school buses, CNG fueling stations for the vehicles, as well as 67 lower-emission diesel buses in 28 school districts in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties (see following list).

"Combined with AQMD's school bus rule, this is a major step toward providing students a diesel-free ride to school," Wallerstein said.

AQMD's Rule 1195 -- Clean On-Road School Buses, adopted this spring, requires school districts and private bus transportation companies to begin phasing in low-emission school buses when outside funding is available.

The school bus rule is one of seven measures adopted in the last year by AQMD's Governing Board aimed at reducing diesel and toxic emissions from Southland fleets. Reducing residents' exposure to harmful diesel emissions, particularly in areas dominated by low-income and minority populations, was one of the chief goals of AQMD's Environmental Justice Initiatives, adopted in 1997.

Since school districts applied for many more buses than could be purchased with available funding, AQMD's Board adopted a point system to rank each application. The ranking system placed a priority on school districts with a large number of students from low-income families and communities with a high exposure to diesel soot and particulate pollution.

In addition, funds were distributed to each county in the same proportion as each county's population. School districts generally match the funding with $25,000 per bus. Of the $17.9 million awarded, the statewide Lower-Emission School Bus Program provided $16.25 million and AQMD contributed $1.66 million.

• Lifted a temporary moratorium on the transfer of emissions reduction credits from the South Coast Air Basin to other air districts;
• Amended Rule 461 - Gasoline Transfer and Dispensing, to allow limited testing of service station pumps to be conducted on weekends;
• Amended Rule 1401 - New Source Review of Toxic Air Contaminants, to incorporate chronic risk values for 23 chemical compounds finalized by the state; and
• Authorized the receipt of 59 low-emission microturbines and $2 million from an air pollution settlement with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and distribution of the microturbines to facilities in Los Angeles County.

The Board approved all other items on the agenda except items 18, on particulate traps for school buses, and 39, on the Adopt-A-School Bus Foundation, which were deferred for future action.

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This page updated: February 27, 2004
URL: http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/Governing_Board/Bs6_15_01.htm