| July 11, 2008
Largest Funding Opportunity Ever Offered to Replace Diesel Buses
Signaling a dramatic acceleration in the effort to replace the region’s
aging, dirty diesel school buses, the Southland’s air quality agency today
announced nearly $68 million in funding to help school districts purchase
clean-burning compressed natural gas buses.
“Some of these buses are among the highest polluting vehicles in
operation today and pose a significant health threat to our school
children,” said William A. Burke, Ed.D., Governing Board Chairman of the
South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD).
“This is an extraordinary opportunity for this region. With this funding
we will replace about 330 buses.”
The funding announced today will help replace model year 1977 to 1986
diesel school buses with new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses and retrofit
about 1,000 model year 1994 and newer diesel school buses with particulate
traps.
Funds -- from Proposition 1B approved by voters in November 2006 -- will
be divided with $47.4 million available for diesel school bus replacement
and $20 million for retrofits. Funding is also included to help pay for the
necessary fueling infrastructure.
Also at today’s meeting, AQMD awarded $955,000 to four school districts
to replace all nine remaining pre-1977 diesel school buses in the region.
Since 2000, AQMD has approved more than $106 million to replace 626 older
diesel school buses with 540 new CNG and 86 new lower-emitting diesel buses,
and to retrofit 2,777 diesel buses with particulate traps.
CNG school buses on average emit six times less smog- and
particulate-forming nitrogen oxides than the diesel buses they replace.
In other action today, the Board:
- Approved $146,000 in funding to provide an incentive to consumers to
purchase a device to refuel their natural gas vehicle at home. The
program provides up to $2,000 toward the purchase of a natural gas home
refueling unit developed by FuelMaker Corp. The unit – known as Phill
--retails in Southern California for about $4,000. For information on how
to purchase the home refueling unit, consumers can contact FuelMaker at
1-866-MY-PHILL or
www.myphill.com; and
- Awarded $500,000 in funding to the team of Rasmussen Iron Works/Robert
H. Peterson Co. to provide financial
incentives to help consumers retrofit existing wood burning fireplaces
with cleaner gas log sets. The program will take place in the fall.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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