Overview
Diesel
exhaust contains significant levels of small particles (known as fine
particulate matter) that pose serious health risks. Exposure to fine
particles can aggravate asthma, cause lung damage and even result in
premature death. In addition, EPA
has determined that diesel exhaust is likely to cause lung cancer
after years of exposure.
Even
though school buses are one of the safest ways for children to get to
and from school, children can be exposed to harmful diesel emissions
when riding school buses. Children are particularly vulnerable to air
pollution because they breathe 50% more air per pound of bodyweight
than adults. Researchers
from Yale University in conjunction with Environment and Human Health,
Inc. found that children riding on school buses are exposed to high
levels of diesel exhaust. The study indicates that on average children
in the United States individually spend about an hour on a school bus
each day or collectively about 3 billion hours each year. Another October
2003 study, conducted by the California Air Resources Board, found
high level of diesel exposure in children riding school buses. Fortunately,
there are a number of steps that schools and others using diesel buses
can take reduce harmful diesel emissions.
The
Diesel Committee has designed a toolkit intended to help policymakers;
school superintendents; administrators, and transportation directors;
school bus drivers; bus fleet managers, parents, teachers and children
make informed decisions about ways to reduce harmful diesel emissions
from school buses. The materials supplement existing information developed
by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the American
Lung Association and various state and local agencies working to improve
the health of America 's school children and safety of America 's schools.
Click on the link for more information, Toolkit
for Reducing Diesel Emissions.
Relevant
Action Plan Items
The
ARC action plan includes several steps to help reduce exposure to harmful
diesel exhaust. Our efforts target diesel school buses. A full version
of the Action Plan is available.
Action
Item 11: The Council supports the reduction of diesel school bus
emissions through programs such as retrofit of diesel buses with commercially
available emissions control technology, the provision of less polluting
diesel fuel, and the replacement of diesel school buses with buses using
less polluting alternative fuels.
Action
Item 12: The Council supports the development of targeted programs
to substantially reduce diesel school bus idling on school premises
and other locations that children frequent.
Committee
Activities
Chairpersons
Rick Rumba, NH Department of Environmental Services, rrumba@des.state.nh.us
Steve Majkut, RI Department of Environmental Management, steve.majkut@dem.ri.gov
Staff
Ellen Tohn, ARC/ERT Associates, etohn@tohnenvironmental.com
Lucy Edmondson, US EPA, edmondson.lucy@epa.gov
Committee
Members
Susan Addiss, Environment & Human Health, Inc.
Harvey Boatman, ME Department of Education
Kathy Brockett, NH Deptartment of Environmental Service
Lynne Cayting, ME DEP
Joe Foutz, CT Department of Environmental Protection
Sonia Hamel, MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
Toni Hicks, Conservation Law Foundation
Mike Kucsma, ME Department of Education
David Love, VT Department of Environmental Conservation
Jean Zotter, Boston Urban Asthma Coalition (BUAC)
EPA
Staff Available to the Committee
Christine Sansevero, US EPA
Dan Brown, US EPA
Promoting
Cleaner Buses and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) Fuel
ARC is working with the U.S. EPA to encourage retrofits
of existing buses with pollution control technologies and the use of
ULSD fuel. The combination of advanced pollution controls (e.g. particulate
matter filters) and ULSD can yield a 90% reduction in particulate matter.
ARC has developed a user friendly menu entitled "Options
for Reducing Pollution from School Buses" (downloadable PDF document)
to guide school districts, health and environmental agency staff in
evaluating different retrofit and fuel choices. Several transit authorities
and the school systems in New England are pursuing such programs. For
more information
- EPA recently settled an enforcement
case with Waste Management of Massachusetts Inc. The company will
provide funds to fuel 200 school buses at a bus depot in Boston with
ultra low-sulfur diesel fuel and retrofit 100 of these buses with
advanced pollution controls. One of the largest school bus retrofit
efforts in the nation, the project will eliminate an estimated 21
tons of diesel particulate matter, 93 tons of smog-causing hydrocarbons
and 651 tons of carbon monoxide air pollution each year.
- As a result of a consent agreement
with Massachusetts, the MBTA is now using ultra-low sulfur diesel
in all 980 of its diesel buses in greater Boston. The MBTA is also
retrofitting 70 buses with particulate matter filters by the end of
this year and plans to retrofit a total of 400 buses by the end of
2004. The MBTA will be phasing out the other diesel buses and have
formed a task force to decide what technology will replace these older
buses.
- The Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection is using funds from an enforcement action to fund retrofits
of roughly 40 school buses in Norwich.
- EPA has provided a grant to the city
of New Haven for the purchase of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel for
all of the 251 city’s school buses. The availability of ULSD
will position the city to retrofit those buses with advanced pollution
controls at some point in the future.
- The Stamford division of the Connecticut
Transit Authority is fueling their entire fleet of 48 buses with ULSD
and 31 of the buses are fitted with advanced pollution controls.
- In response to an EPA enforcement action,
the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) will fuel all 156
of its diesel-fueled buses with ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and fit
all of these buses with advanced pollution controls.
Buying
Collaborative for Cleaner School Buses and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel
The committee is establishing a working group to investigate
the potential of a regional buying collaborative. Currently, the expense
of retrofitting or purchasing school buses (with pollution control equipment)
and fueling those buses with ultra low sulfur fuel prevents most school
systems in New England from pursuing these options. ARC is looking into
to ways to establish a buying collaborative as a means to reduce substantially
the costs of these technologies and fuels through bulk purchasing.
Anti Idling
The committee is pursuing anti idling campaigns throughout the region.
Several New England States are actively working to reduce school
bus idling. Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire have signed agreements
with their school transportation associations to promote anti-idling
and have produced creative materials to educate and involve drivers
and school officials. Our efforts in Boston are coordinated with the
Boston Urban Asthma Coalition.
| KEY:
CT DEP: Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
COSTA: Connecticut School Transportation Association
MAPT: Maine Association for Pupil Transport
MA
EOEA: Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
ME
DEP: Maine Department of Environmental Protection
ME
DOE: Maine Department of Education
NHSTA:
New Hampshire State Transportation Association
NH DES:
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
DEM:
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
RI
DOH: Rhode Island Department of Health
RI
DOE: Rhode Island Department of Education
VT
DEC: Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation
VT
PIRG: Vermont Public Interest Research Group |
Activities in the Region
ME
Diesel Bus Initiative
NH's
Clean School Bus Initative
Environment
Northeast New England Diesel Initiative
Health
Effects of Vehicle Exhaust
NEJM
study links diesel and asthma (2007)
Diesel
traffic makes asthma worse BBC News 2007
Vehicle
Exhaust Harmful
http://www.ehhi.org/exhaust/exhaust_effects06.htm
Clean
Air Task Force
Diesel
and Health in America: The Lingering Threat
Diesel
Health Impacts, 2007
Mortality
Risk Associated with Short-Term Exposure to Traffic Particles and Sulfates
U.S.
EPA: Diesel Exhaust and Your Health
http://www.epa.gov/ne/eco/diesel/health_effects.html
California
Air Resource Board
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/schoolbus/420f03038.pdf
Traffic
Pollution and Children's Respiratory Symptoms
OEHHA
Study Shows Possible Link Between Traffic Pollution, Children's Respiratory
Symptoms
Web
Resources
New
EPA rules on Diesel Fuel Requirements
PowerPoint
Presentation
A
Study Links Trucks' Exhaust to Bronx Schoolchildren's Asthma
An
article found in the NY Times, October 2006
School
Bus Toolkit: Alternative Fuel Vehicle Fleets and Niche Markets
for School Buses
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/apps/afvinfo_schoolbuses.html
Cleaning
Up Diesel Pollution in New England-Environment Northeast"
http://www.asthmaregionalcouncil.org/about/documents/CleaningupDieselPollutioninNewEngland1.pdf
Comparing
toxins in Tobacco and Car Exhaust
How
do Tobacco and Car Exhaust Compare?
Environment
and Human Health Inc.
http://www.ehhi.org
A
Report by Environment Northeast
Cleaning
Up Diesel Pollution in New England: A Background Report for Policymakers
and Advocates
Union
of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Diesel Activities
http://www.epa.gov/ne/eco/diesel
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Diesel Retrofit Technologies
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/retrofit/
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Clean School Bus Newsletter (Winter
2004)
Download a copy
Vermont
PIRG
http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/environmentalHealth/dieselExhaust.php
| To
order materials by ARC click here |
|
The New England Asthma Regional Council
