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Department of Ecology News Release - March 13, 2008
08-063
YAKIMA – Thousands of children riding school buses are breathing cleaner air thanks to upgrades made on 300 diesel school buses in north and central Washington.
All 27 school districts with bus fleets in Educational Service District 171 have been fitted with devices that remove up to half of harmful emissions.
Over the last five years, the state Legislature appropriated a total of $28 million statewide for the school bus diesel retrofit program to reduce children’s exposure to harmful diesel exhaust. Diesel exhaust is known to increase asthma, lung and heart disease, and lung cancer.
ESD 171 fleet managers recently celebrated the completion of the Clean School Bus Program, sponsored by the Washington Department of Ecology. The Cummins Corp. installed the upgrades, which included replacing crankcase filters and installing diesel oxidation catalysts. The crankcase filters eliminate fumes from vehicle crankcases, filtering out engine emissions that can linger inside the school bus, especially when buses are idling.
Although air quality in Washington has significantly improved during the last decade, toxic air emissions from diesel engines are creating unacceptable health risks in Washington. Locally and nationally, efforts are under way to reduce diesel emissions by using cleaner fuels, retrofitting existing equipment with newer emission control technologies, and reducing motor vehicle idling.
ESD 171 school districts participating in the retrofit program include: Brewster, Bridgeport, Cascade, Cashmere, Coulee Hartline, Eastmont, Entiat, Ephrata, Lake Chelan, Mansfield, Manson, Methow Valley, Moses Lake, Nespelem, Okanogan, Omak, Orondo, Oroville, Palisades, Pateros, Quincy, Soap Lake, Tonasket, Warden, Waterville, Wenatchee, and Wilson Creek.
Statewide, more than 5,000 school buses have received exhaust emission upgrades designed to improve the air quality children are exposed to.
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Media Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, 509- 575-2610; jred461@ecy.wa.gov
Link to school bus celebration photograph: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2008news/images/031408_cro_busretrofit.htm
More information is available online at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/cars/DieselEmissionPage.htm
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
