State School Buses Faulted on Emissions

By Andrea Kelly, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

May 25–Despite “above average” efforts to reduce soot emissions from school buses, Arizona still scored a D in a recent national study on school bus pollution.

A D was the lowest score possible, which puts Arizona in the bottom group of states in terms of the amount of soot pollution from school buses. No state earned an A.

Arizona school buses produce more than twice as much soot per mile as a big rig, the report stated.

The “above average” rating for Arizona’s cleanup programs was given to those that reduced soot pollution by 2.6 percent to 7 percent. Arizona’s rating was based on the state’s 3.2 percent reduction in soot emissions in 2005.

The study, released Wednesday, was done by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit science-based organization that works to encourage change in government, corporate and consumer practices.

In addition to increasing air pollution, soot released from school buses has a negative effect on children’s health and the incidence of asthma, said Dr. Paul F. Detjen, American Lung Association of Chicago board member and an allergist in Chicago.

The soot is particularly harmful to children because they are more sensitive to pollutants, Detjen said.

Arizona’s rating shows the state has a lot of work to do, said Steve Owens, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

One of the contributing factors to the low score is that about half of Arizona school buses are more than 10 years old which means they produce more pollution, and some cannot be retrofitted to reduce emissions. The average 11-year-old bus emits 17.4 pounds of soot each year, according to the report.

Tailpipes on buses less than 10 years old can be retrofitted with particulate traps, which act as filters to reduce pollution by at least 85 percent and reduce the amount of on-board pollution inside the bus, according to the report.

One of Arizona’s strengths is the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s School Bus Idling Program, which began in August 2004 and now includes nearly 150 of the 230 school districts in the state, Owens said.

The voluntary program reduces the amount of time buses are allowed to idle on school campuses, which also reduces the pollution they emit. Tucson Unified School District, Amphitheater Public Schools and Sunnyside Unified School Districts were among the first seven districts in Arizona to join the program.

That program and retrofitting buses with the particulate traps are the department’s main efforts to reduce pollution, Owens said.

The report recommends Arizona make it a priority to replace buses older than 10 years and to expand funding for retrofitting buses less than 10 years old.

But replacing buses, which can cost between $80,000 and $95,000, can be overshadowed by the need for classroom resources when budgets are tight, Owens said.

Learn more about bus-idling curbs –To find out if your school district is a part of the Arizona School Bus Idling Program, go online to www.azdeq.gov/function/about/bus.html

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

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