School Administrators Urge Clean-Diesel Bus Option

Diesel Fuel News, Feb 19, 2001 by Jack Peckham

Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) urges South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) to amend its proposed rule that would virtually ban clean-diesel technology and impose a compressed natural gas (CNG) mandate.

"If school districts are forced to purchase CNG school buses, then adequate funding should be provided for the cost differential, infrastructure costs and training required." ACSA told SCAQMD in a letter.

"At present, the only place to get such funding is from other sources -- in this case, the classroom. This discriminatory ban [on clean-diesel] will ultimately cost districts millions in additional procurement, facilities and maintenance costs."

Meantime, South Coast Clean Air Partnership -- a coalition of school districts, business groups, ultra-low-sulfur diesel proponent BP (Arco) and Western States Petroleum Association -- say SCAQMD's plan would "rob money from southern California classrooms."

"School districts should not be forced to decide between books or buses ... Delayed new bus purchases brought on by the SCAQMD's CNG-only philosophy will mean a delay in getting schoolchildren onto newer, safer buses," since CNG costs much more than clean-diesel. Rather than cleaning the air or helping children, the rule "will mean a multi-million-dollar shift in taxpayer dollars from southern California classrooms to Southern California Gas Company," the Partnership said.

In California Air Resources Board (CARB's) school bus rule analysis, "CARB found that given the emission requirements of their program that given an equal amount of funding, clean-diesel technology would provide greater NOx and PM emissions reduction than CNG powered buses," BP (Arco) told SCAQMD.

The rule also doesn't account for possible stranded investment in inadequate "slow-fill" CNG refueling stations, ignores the huge price surge in gas and electricity costs hitting power-strapped California, and ignores recent studies showing that CNG emissions are even more toxic than trap-equipped clean-diesels, the BP analysis says.

What's more, two $50 million funds -- a "clean school bus" fund and the "Carl Moyer" diesel clean-up grants -- might not exist in fiscal 2002. Instead, Gov. Gray Davis has proposed $100 million for a new fund to offset emissions from new power generation coming on-line to alleviate California's electric power crisis.

As a result, school districts would in 2002 face critical funding shortages to cover the much higher costs of CNG bus and refueling installations, the analysis shows. SCAQMD's staff report pushing CNG mandates "does not suggest where any of these current or future shortfalls in funding will come from," the analysis points out.