Districts awarded funding for cleaner school bus fleets

Contact:  Elizabeth Robb 502-573-3382

MT. STERLING, Ky. (May 24, 2007) - Federal, state, and local officials today celebrated receipt of federal funding that will enable the Montgomery County and Bourbon County school districts to reduce pollution from their diesel buses. 

Montgomery County School District Transportation Director Karen Gullet took the lead in applying for funds to implement bus retrofits and partnered with the neighboring Bourbon County School District to help secure funds for both school bus fleets.

The school district, working with the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, won a $171,000 grant for its project from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Presenting the funding today were Carol Kemker, deputy director of EPA’s Division of Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management, and Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet Deputy Secretary Lloyd Cress.

The EPA is encouraging school districts across the nation to reduce pollution from school buses, which are the safest way to transport children to school. It launched the Clean School Bus USA program in 2003 with the goal of upgrading the nation’s school bus fleet to low-emission buses by 2010 so that buses also will be the cleanest possible transportation for school children.

Clean School Bus USA is a program of the Southeast Diesel Collaborative, a partnership between federal, state and local government, the private sector and other stakeholders in EPA’s Southeastern Region. The collaborative seeks to improve air quality by encouraging the use of clean, renewable energy and reducing diesel emissions from existing engines.

In the next 12 months, Montgomery and Bourbon County Schools will retrofit at least 12 buses with diesel particulate filters and 39 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts. 

Diesel particulate filters will reduce sooty emissions by 75 percent to 85 percent and hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide pollution by at least 60 percent.  Diesel oxidation catalysts will reduce soot by at least 30 percent, hydrocarbons by at least 50 percent and carbon monoxide emissions by at least 30 percent. Air is cleaner for drivers and children aboard the buses, and the community benefits from reduced air pollution. 

“I hope that this program will help our students learn the importance of stewardship of the environment,” Montgomery County School Superintendent Freeman said. “I am glad that we are able to do our part in making our community a better place to live and work.” 

Deputy Secretary Cress said the district is to be commended for all its clean-bus efforts. “Retrofitting bus engines and reducing unnecessary idling will benefit air quality and children's health,” Cress said.  

For information on clean school buses, go to http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/