Back to Top
Action
Alert – April 2001:
Diesel School Buses And Children's Health
What Are
The Health Of Effects Of Children Riding
In Diesel School Buses?
FACT #1: The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) classifies diesel exhaust
as a human carcinogen.
FACT #2: Studies by the South Coast Air
Quality Management District (AQMD) find
diesel exhaust to be responsible for up
to 70% of the cancer risk from air pollution.
FACT #3: Children riding in diesel school
buses breathe at least 2 to 3 times the
concentration of diesel exhaust that is
outdoors. Diesel exhaust is also a known
asthma trigger - asthma is responsible
for 10 million lost days of school every
year in the U.S.
WHAT
IS GOING ON?
AQMD is
the governing body for clean air in Los
Angeles County, Riverside County, Orange
County and San Bernardino County. AQMD
is currently considering a rule that will
provide children with the cleanest available
bus technology (Rule 1195). This rule
requires school districts to buy only
clean alternative fuel buses when replacing
any existing bus in its fleet. However,
the diesel industry has been trying scare
school districts into believing that AQMD
is trying to take away school rights to
decide what is best for children. In addition,
the diesel industry is also making claims
that its new low-sulfur diesel burns as
clean as natural gas. They have gone as
far in misleading the public as to call
low-sulfur diesel by such names as "green"
diesel or "clean" diesel, neither of which
is true because diesel exhaust remains
carcinogenic.
WHAT YOU
CAN DO
The AQMD will consider adopting Rule 1195
on April 20, 2001. E-mail us your concerns
about diesel school buses. IMPORTANT:
Please include your full name, the city
where you reside and your phone number
(this is proof to AQMD that it is authentic).
Back
to Top
Action
Alert – September 11, 2000:
Dump Dirty School Buses - Protect Our
Children
The Issue:
The South Coast Air Quality Management
District (SCAQMD), which regulates the
air quality for Los Angeles County, Riverside,
Orange County, and Ventura County, is
considering a rule this November that
will require school buses to clean up
their act.
The
Facts:
- Diesel exhaust is responsible for
over 70% of our cancer risk due to air
toxics.
- The health effects of diesel exhaust
include nausea, headaches, increased
risk of asthma attacks, lung cancer,
and premature death.
- Children are at particular risk from
diesel exhaust, due to their smaller
body size and faster breathing rate.
Also, children are exposed to diesel
exhaust every day from their school
buses.
- School buses are some of the oldest,
most polluting vehicles on the road
today - many school buses are over 20
years old.
What's at Stake:
- Environmental and health organizations
are pushing for a rule that requires
school districts to purchase cleaner,
alternative-fuel buses for new purchases.
- Oil companies, engine manufacturers,
and school bus companies are arguing
against the rule, saying that schools
would have to choose between "books
and buses."
- Oil companies and engine manufacturers
also argue that newer "green diesel"
buses should be allowed for new purchases,
instead of just alternative-fuel vehicles.
However, "green diesel" is not yet certified
by the California Air Resources Board.
Alternative-fuel buses are available
and on the market now.
- Significant funding is available to
subsidize purchases of new, clean buses
- Governor Davis has set aside $50 million
in the 2000-20001 to finance purchases
of cleaner school buses throughout the
state.
What You
Can Do:
View and
print out the sample
letter to AQMD, sign and mail today!
Feel free to include your own reasons
for wanting to protect children from the
harmful effects of diesel exhaust.
Back
to Top
Action
Alert – June 6, 2000:
Dump Dirty Diesel! Call for Volunteers
The EPA
has issued a new rule for public comment
regarding diesel trucks. In
shorthand, this rule would require the
oil industry to develop and market a
low-sulfur diesel fuel by 2007. A low-sulfur
diesel fuel would then make it
possible to use after-treatments such
as particle traps and NOx absorbers
to
cut down on particulate matter in diesel
exhaust to such an extent that diesel
would become as "clean" as compressed
natural gas. No more gigantic black
clouds from trucks or buses!
This is
the most sweeping clean air rule to
be proposed by the EPA since removing
lead from gasoline. Low-sulfur diesel
fuel is already available in Europe,
so the technology does exist. The EPA
estimates it will add approximately
3 to 4 cents a gallon in cost to diesel
fuel.
The EPA
is holding public hearings in New York,
Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago,
and Denver. The Los Angeles hearings
are scheduled for June 27th at
the South Coast Air Quality Management
District in Diamond Bar.
Volunteers
are urgently needed for a range of activities
-- attend editorial board
meetings, give testimony at the hearing,
sign letters to the editors, etc.
Please let me know if you are interested
and/or need more information. We'd
like to get as many people at the hearing
as possible.
Contact Andrea
Van Hook at (323) 935 – 5864, ext. 228 or
e-mail to maxwelld@lalung.org.
Back
to Top
Action
Alert – May 25, 2000:
VICTORY! – MTA Votes to Dump Diesel
Today the MTA Board voted unanimously
to not buy diesel buses, but instead
to buy 370 natural gas buses! The motion
was introduced by Chair Yvonne Braithwaite
Burke. Further, the MTA Board voted
to set aside $2 million dollars for
the Fuel Cell Consortium, a research
organization for fuel cell technology.
Also, Councilman Bernson introduced
a motion to retrofit all existing diesel
buses with diesel traps (to trap particulate
matter) and convert the buses to accept
low-sulfur diesel fuel.
If you feel like writing a letter congratulating
the MTA Board on their action, contact
information is below. Thank you to everyone
who took the time to call, write, or
fax MTA Board members. It worked!
Contact information is as follows:
Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne
Braithwaite Burke, Chair MTA Board
Phone: (213) 974-2222
Fax: (213) 680-3283
E-mail: seconddistrict@bos.co.la.ca.us
Mayor Richard Riordan
Phone: (213) 847-2489
Fax: (213) 485-1286
E-mail: rriordan@mayor.ci.la.ca.us
Julian Burke, CEO MTA
Phone: (213) 922-7403
Fax: (213) 922-7447
Supervisor Michael Antonovich
Phone: (213) 974-5555
Fax: (213) 974-1010
E-mail: fifthdistrict@bos.co.la.ca.us
Councilman Hal Bernson
Phone: (213) 485-3343
Fax: (213) 473-6925
E-mail: bernson@c12.ci.la.ca.us
James Cragin
Phone: (310) 217-9507
Fax: (310) 217-9694
E-mail:jcragin.ci.gardena.ca.us
Supervisor Don Knabe
Phone: (213) 974-4444
Fax: (213) 626-6941
E-mail: don@bos.co.la.ca.us
John Fasana
Phone: (626) 357-7931
Fax: (818) 358-0018
Jose D. Legaspi
Phone: (213) 922-2000
Fax: (213) 922-4594
Supervisor Gloria Molina
Phone: (213) 974-4111
Fax: (213) 613-1739
E-mail: gmolina@bos.co.la.ca.us
Councilwoman Jenny Oropeza
Phone: (562) 570-6919
Fax: (562) 570-6590
E-mail: oropeza@ci.long-beach.ca.us
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky
Phone: (213) 974-3333
Fax: (213) 625-7360
E-mail: zev@bos.co.la.ca.us
Frank Roberts
Fax: (213) 922-4594
Jaime de la Vega
Phone: (213) 847-3699
Fax: (213) 847-3817
Thank you for your help!
updated
6-1-01
|