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Clean School Bus Grants in Region 9, 2003
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| Clean School Bus Program, Region 9 | Grant Recipients | ||
National Clean School Bus
To support EPA's efforts to reduce pollution from school buses, Congress allocated $5 million for grants in 2003 to help school districts upgrade their bus fleets. EPA received 120 applications from school districts across the country, and funded 17 of them. School districts can reduce pollution by upgrading their bus fleets, using cleaner fuels, and eliminating unnecessary idling.
Two of the 17 grant winners are from the Pacific Southwest: Paradise Valley Unified School District #69 (Phoenix Area, Arizona) and Clovis Unified School District (near Fresno, California).
Paradise Valley Unified School District #69 – Phoenix, AZ, $300,000
The Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) is the third largest in Arizona, with over 34,000 students. The district, encompassing 98 square miles in northeast Phoenix and northwest Scottsdale, has been a leader in the use of alternative fuels. PVUSD operates a fleet of 175 school buses and approximately 250 support vehicles. Of that total, approximately 115 vehicles have compressed natural gas (CNG) engines or retrofits that allow them to use either CNG or gasoline.
With the EPA funds, PVUSD will retrofit 20 buses with particulate matter (dust and soot) filters, and fuel 114 buses with ultra low sulfur diesel, introducing this fuel in an area where it is not yet available. While Phoenix has made great strides in controlling ozone (smog) and carbon monoxide (CO) pollution in recent years, the area still fails to meet the federal health standard for particulates. The clean bus program can help the area attain this standard and help control ozone and CO.
Contact: Jeff Cook, PVUSD, 602-493-6324
Clovis Unified School District – Clovis, CA, $286,700
The Clovis Unified School District is in California's San Joaquin Valley, which has some of the nation's worst air pollution, with ozone and particulate levels often exceeding federal health standards. To reduce emissions from school buses, the district will use EPA funds to retrofit 53 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and test their performance on emulsified diesel fuel. In addition, the district will retrofit nine buses with particulate filters and fuel them with ultra low-sulfur diesel. These actions will reduce particulate emissions by an estimated 6.88 tons.
The Clovis Unified School District operates a bus fleet with 54 routes serving 33,418 children. The fleet is fully committed throughout the school year and operates at about 50% capacity during the summer.
Contact: Joe Bjerke, Clovis USD, 559-327-9671