Railroad Commissioners Jones and Porter Hail Friendswood ISD’s Move to Greener Fleet

AUSTIN ––Friendswood ISD students will breathe cleaner air and the district’s fuel expenses will be lowered, thanks to grants from the Texas Railroad Commission and Houston-Galveston Area Council.

“I am delighted that we could help Friendswood ISD replace 12 older diesel buses with ultra-low emission propane buses,” Railroad Commission Chairman Elizabeth Ames Jones said. “And since the grant includes an on-site propane fueling station, Friendswood ISD can save another 50 cents per gallon on propane motor fuel through the federal alternative motor fuel tax credit.”

Funds for the Railroad Commission’s vehicle and fueling-station grants come from the U.S. Department of Energy under a Clean Cities stimulus grant and from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality through the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP).

“These grants will reduce smog-forming emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from Friendswood’s buses by 16 tons,” said Railroad Commissioner David Porter. “Black exhaust is history with these new ultra-low emission propane buses. They reduce exhaust soot—“particulate emissions”—by 99 percent.”

“At a time when school boards and taxpayers need all the help they can get,” Porter said, “Friendswood is joining the 59 other Texas school districts that have saved millions of dollars on fuel and operating costs by using Texas-produced propane instead of imported oil.”

Friendswood’s new propane school buses join nearly 1,700 other propane school buses on the road in Texas today.

For more information about propane vehicles and Railroad Commission grants, contact Heather Ball with the Commission’s Alternative Energy Division at 512-463-7359 or email heather.ball@rrc.state.tx.us.