Cleaner School Buses Mean Healthier Kids
Tucson, AZ - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide local
communities around the country with more than $7 million in grants to
reduce kids' exposure to harmful exhaust from their school buses. The
grants will help fund the cleanup of more than 500 tons of diesel
emissions from 4000 school buses nationwide.
"Today's clean school bus grants mean that the only thing pouring out
of school buses will be students – not diesel emissions," said EPA
Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "President Bush and EPA are
committed to making that black puff of diesel smoke from school
buses something you only read about in history books."
EPA awarded 37 grants totaling $7.5 million as part of the Clean
School Bus USA program, which reduces children's exposure to diesel
exhaust. The initiative encourages policies and practices to eliminate
unnecessary school bus idling, the installation of effective emission
control systems on newer buses and the replacement of the oldest
buses with cleaner diesel or compressed natural gas powered buses.
The grant recipients are contributing an additional $13 million
in matching funds and in-kind services.
Johnson made the announcement in Arizona accompanied by local officials
of the Tucson Unified School District. Tucson is matching its $500,000
EPA grant with $6.5 million it raised towards the purchase of more than
60 new compressed natural gas buses. The effort will improve the air
quality for 67,000 students and school employees. The school district
operates 308 buses that ferry 16,000 children to and from school,
traveling 4.7 million miles annually.
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