March 1, 2006

The Department of Environmental Quality has partnered with local public school districts to win a grant totaling $388,519 through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus USA program. Funds from the grant will be used to reduce both children's exposure to diesel exhaust and the amount of air pollution created by diesel school buses. This is the second grant in two years under this same program and will allow a 2004 pilot program, administered by the Okemos Public School District in eleven mid-Michigan counties, to be expanded to include interested school districts in the twenty five Michigan counties considered to be out of compliance with ozone standards.

“We are pleased to partner with our schools to provide safer transport for the thousands of Michigan children who ride school busses everyday,” said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester.

This grant will retrofit 372 busses with an EPA approved diesel oxidation catalyst, which uses a chemical process to break down pollutants in the exhaust stream into less harmful components. Eighty-nine of those retrofits will include buses from the mid-Michigan fleets that were not retrofitted under the 2004 grant allocation, while the remaining 283 buses will be retrofitted in every participating school district in the twenty-five counties.

“This Clean School Bus USA grant is part of EPA’s effort to get rid of that all-too-familiar black puff of smoke and reduce the harmful health effects of diesel emissions,” said Tom Skinner, administrator of EPA Region 5. “Children are among the most susceptible to health problems caused by the smog and the soot that diesel emissions produce, so the retrofitting of school buses is an important step.”

In Michigan, approximately 17,800 school buses transport more than 850,000 children each school day. With those buses driving more than 10 million miles each year, pollution from these diesel vehicles has health implications for everyone.

The EPA has also awarded a grant to Traverse City Area Public Schools to retrofit 120 school buses with DOC’s and to replace one 1984 model year school bus.

For more information on the Clean School Bus USA program, visit www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus. For information on the National Clean Diesel Campaign, go to www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised March 1, 2006 by Pat Watson