| Jan. 22, 2007
To Replace All Pre-1987 Diesel School Buses in Fleet
HEMET -- Hemet Unified School District officials today unveiled the first
of 16 new compressed natural gas school buses funded by the South Coast Air
Quality Management District (AQMD) to replace all of their oldest – and
dirtiest -- diesel buses.
“Diesel school buses built prior to 1987 are highly polluting and expose
children to particularly harmful diesel exhaust,” said Ron Loveridge, Mayor
of Riverside and an AQMD Governing Board Member. “AQMD’s goal is to replace
all dirty diesel school buses in the region with cleaner models, and I am
pleased that the Hemet school district is taking a leadership role in
helping us achieve that objective.”
Loveridge and school district officials spoke today at a ceremony
dedicating the first eight new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses placed in
service.
“These clean-fueled buses will help us improve the health and safety of
our children and community,” said Philip O. Pendley, Superintendent of the
Hemet Unified School District. “In addition to their low emissions, all 16
new CNG buses are equipped with three-point seat belts.”
Since 2000, AQMD’s Board has been a national leader in adopting policies
and providing incentives to replace dirty diesel school buses with
alternative fuel models. To date, AQMD has approved more than $83 million
to replace 505 older diesel school buses with 419 new CNG and 86 new
lower-emitting diesel buses, and to retrofit 2,553 diesel buses with
particulate traps.
CNG school buses on average emit four times less smog-forming nitrogen
oxides and 10 times less particulate matter than the diesel buses they
replace. In addition, CNG buses emit no diesel soot, which is the source of
about 70 percent of all air pollution cancer risk in the region.
In October, AQMD’s Governing Board awarded $2.29 million to Hemet Unified
School District to replace all 16 of its pre-1987 diesel school buses with
new CNG buses. The grant included about $208,000 to help build a new CNG
fueling station. In addition to AQMD funding, the school district also
received $125,000 for the fueling station from the Mobile Source Air
Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC). The school district
contributed $400,000.
In addition to this grant, AQMD in previous years has awarded to Hemet
Unified School District:
- $354,477 for three CNG buses and infrastructure;
- $126,000 for 18 particulate traps retrofitted on 1994 and newer buses;
and
- $25,000 for two particulate traps for diesel backup generators.
The school district also previously received $60,000 from the MSRC to
help replace one bus.
Funding for AQMD’s school bus replacement program comes from the state’s
Lower-Emission School Bus Replacement and Retrofit Program and the AQMD
Chairman’s School Bus Initiative.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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