| Nov. 2, 2012 The South Coast Air
Quality Management District today awarded $32.9 million to help school
districts in the Southland purchase clean-burning compressed natural gas and
propane buses to replace older diesel school buses in their fleets.
Also today, AQMD awarded an additional $1.3 million to help retrofit
diesel school buses with particulate matter (PM) traps to reduce diesel
emissions.
“This will help protect the health of our children, their families and
their communities,” said William A. Burke, Ed.D., chairman of AQMD’s
Governing Board. “Cleaning up school bus fleets continues to be a top
priority and today’s funding helps us stay on track with that goal.”
Today’s action provides funding to more than 30 public school districts
and private school bus carriers in the Southland to replace 193 pre-1994
diesel school buses with cleaner-burning compressed natural gas (CNG) or
propane buses, retrofit 66 existing diesel buses with PM traps and install
necessary fueling infrastructure.
Alternative-fueled buses are substantially cleaner than the older diesel
buses they replace. In addition, these buses emit no diesel soot,
which is the source of about 84 percent of all air pollution cancer risk in
the region.
Since 2001, AQMD has approved more than $210 million to replace more than
1,000 older diesel school buses with cleaner models and retrofit more than
3,000 newer diesel school buses with particulate traps.
Funding for today’s awards comes from the state’s Carl Moyer Program and
AQMD’s Lower-Emission School Bus fund.
School bus replacements
|
School District/Private Operator
|
# of CNG buses
|
Total Funding Award
|
|
ABC
USD*
|
2
|
$351,000
|
|
Alhambra USD
|
1
|
$175,500
|
|
Banning USD
|
1
|
$175,500
|
|
Bear
Valley USD
|
4
|
$702,000
|
|
Beaumont USD
|
3
|
$526,500
|
|
Bonita USD
|
1
|
$175,500
|
|
Chaffey Joint Union High School District
|
9
|
$1,579,500
|
|
Colton Joint USD
|
4
|
$702,000
|
|
Cypress School District
|
2
|
$351,000
|
|
Downey USD
|
6
|
$1,053,000
|
|
Fullerton School District
|
16
(Propane)
|
$2,072,000
|
|
Fullerton Joint Union High School District
|
6
|
$1,053,000
|
|
Huntington Beach Union High School District
|
3
|
$526,500
|
|
Hemet USD
|
7
|
$1,228,500
|
|
La
Habra City School District
|
4
|
$702,000
|
|
Lake
Elsinore USD
|
9
|
$1,579,500
|
|
Montebello USD
|
5
|
$877,500
|
|
Murrieta Valley USD
|
10
|
$1,755,000
|
|
Newport-Mesa USD
|
8
|
$1,404,000
|
|
Ocean View School District
|
8
|
$1,404,000
|
|
Ontario-Montclair School District
|
11
|
$1,930,500
|
|
Orange USD
|
3
|
$526,500
|
|
Placentia-Yorba Linda USD
|
4
|
$702,000
|
|
Pupil Transportation Cooperative
|
4
(CNG)
5
(Propane)
|
$1,349,500
|
|
Redlands USD
|
15
|
$2,632,500
|
|
Rialto USD
|
16
|
$2,808,000
|
|
Rim
of the World USD
|
1
|
$175,500
|
|
Rowland USD
|
5
|
$877,500
|
|
Temecula Valley USD
|
5
|
$877,500
|
|
Torrance USD
|
4
|
$702,000
|
|
Upland USD
|
6
|
$1,053,000
|
|
Walnut Valley USD
|
5
|
$877,500
|
*
Unified School District
School bus PM trap retrofits
|
School District/Private Operator
|
# of PM Traps
|
Total Funding Award
|
|
Azusa USD
|
1
|
$20,000
|
|
Beaumont USD
|
1
|
$20,000
|
|
Cypress School District
|
1
|
$20,000
|
|
La
Habra City School District
|
3
|
$60,000
|
|
Ontario-Montclair School District
|
5
|
$100,000
|
|
Riverside County Office of Education
|
1
|
$20,000
|
|
Santa Monica-Malibu USD
|
7
|
$140,000
|
|
First Student, Inc.
|
15
|
$300,000
|
|
JFK
Transportation
|
3
|
$60,000
|
|
Pacific Coachways Charter Services
|
6
|
$120,000
|
|
Tumbleweed Transportation
|
23
|
$460,000
|
In other action today, the Board:
- Released a solicitation for projects that
will replace medium-size diesel trucks with new, battery
electric trucks. These will focus on projects in Boyle
Heights, San Bernardino, Ontario and communities surrounding
the ports, areas where residents are disproportionately
impacted by heavy diesel traffic. Funding comes from a $1
million grant award from the U.S. EPA’s Diesel Emissions
Reduction Act program; and
- Approved contracts with Black & Decker and The
Greenstation to implement AQMD’s 2013 Lawn Mower Exchange
Program to exchange up to 4,000 gas-powered mowers for
battery electric models. Exchange events will be held in
spring of 2013.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
|
