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Clearing the Air: $4.3m in State Funds Will Pay to Replace Old Valley School Buses With Cleaner-Burning Models.

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Mark Grossi, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Mar. 17--California's oldest and most-polluting school bus fleet -- which is in the San Joaquin Valley -- has attracted millions of state dollars to buy modern replacements.

The California Air Resources Board will spend $4.3 million for 31 new buses to replace Valley "classics," two of which date back to 1959. The Valley's eight counties have more pre-1977 school buses on the road than anywhere else in the state.

Protecting children from toxic contaminants is the main reason to replace old buses, said Seyed Sadredin, air pollution control officer for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

"There are studies that show children inside these buses are exposed to a toxic risk of about three times higher than an individual would face under worst-case conditions in an urban area," he said Thursday.

The Valley has 200 of the 300 oldest school buses on California's roads, district officials said. But for years, the state has replaced old buses based on population. Southern California has received a lot of money, while the Valley has received far less.

This year, state air board members decided the criteria would be based solely on the age of buses.

The Valley, one of the nation's dirtiest air basins, has more buses on the list than any other place, according to state air board figures. Porterville public schools will be able to buy six new buses, and Central Unified School District in Fresno is in line for five.

Air district board members accepted the state money Thursday, expressing their thanks to the state. An additional $1.2 million in state money will be used to install pollution-reducing devices on other older buses.

The new buses run on modern diesel fuel or an alternative fuel, such as compressed natural gas. Board member Sam Armentrout, who is a Madera City Council member, said he wanted more of a concerted push for compressed natural gas.

"If you look at the reduction in [pollutants], compressed natural gas far exceeds the reductions of clean diesel," he said. "When we start working on our rules here, I firmly believe we should consider at least a preference for compressed natural gas."

Board member J. Steven Worthley, a Tulare County supervisor, was curious about how much the old buses were actually used.

"If we have mothballed buses or buses that get used as fill-ins for breakdowns, then replacing these buses really does very little for air quality," he said.

The old buses are state-certified and used daily, said Jeff Findley, district manager of the emission reduction incentive program.

The Valley's two oldest buses scheduled for replacement are 47 years old and belong to the Central Unified School District.

The state's oldest bus in daily use is outside the Valley in the desert portion of Kern County. The 1951 bus is in California City, which is part of the Mojave Unified School District.

The reporter can be reached at mgrossi@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6316.

The reporter can be reached at mgrossi@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6316.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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