State targets school bus pollution
Looking to install controls by 2010
LYNN - Standing between two school buses full of children, Governor Deval Patrick announced the rollout yesterday of a statewide initiative to reduce air pollution emitted from the vehicles.
The plan to retrofit about 5,500 diesel-powered school buses by 2010 is part of a deal meant to offset pollution from the Big Dig, made nearly two years ago between the state Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works and the Department of Environmental Protection. The pollution controls will be installed using $16.5 million in state and federal funds.
"We're going to be doing this over the next many, many months, and it's important we do it," Patrick said during an announcement in front of the Julie F. Callahan School. He said the fact that many buses are underutilized during the summer makes the timing perfect.
The initiative, called MassCleanDiesel, is aimed at reducing the amount of pollutants schoolchildren are exposed to, said Patrick. A 2006 state Department of Public Health survey found that 1 in 10 students in kindergarten through eighth grade have asthma, which can be aggravated by diesel exhaust.
"MassCleanDiesel will make that ride to school healthier for children on the bus and for those communities along the way," he said.
Filters attached to the engines and exhaust systems of the school buses - at no cost to bus companies - are intended to dramatically reduce the exhaust released into the air and bus cabins.
"The environmental side of it would be that you're going to have up to 5,500 school buses that are now up to 90 percent cleaner in the emission they give off to the environment," said Ed Coletta, a spokesman for the MassDEP. "These buses are going to be used long into the future, and we want to make sure they're emitting as few gases as possible."
The upgrade can be done to any large public school bus that weighs more than 10,000 pounds and carries more than 10 students at a time. Bus companies can sign up for the diesel retrofits under the voluntary program by contacting MassDEP, which will pair the company with a retrofit vendor.
North Reading Transportation Co., which serves school systems in neighborhoods such as Chelmsford, Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn, was the first company to sign up for the upgrades. Installation of the filters on their roughly 200 buses should begin in about three weeks. "We thought it was important enough for the children that we carry to help them stay as healthy as possible," said owner John McCarthy in an interview after the announcement.
Jonnelle Marte can be reached at jmarte@globe.com. 