Eight school districts in Ohio were awarded school bus retrofit grant money by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to help reduce children’s exposure to pollutants in diesel exhaust.
More than $270,000 was awarded to install diesel oxidation catalysts on 75 buses and idle reduction technology on 68 buses as part of the Ohio EPA’s Clean Diesel School Bus Grant program, created in 2006. Funding for the grants come from civil penalties the state agency collects for violations of the state’s environmental protection laws.
Retrofit equipment purchased through these latest grants is expected to eliminate about 262 pounds of fine particulate pollution, and more than three tons annually of harmful carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons.This equates to a reduction of fine particle pollution in diesel exhaust by between 20 and 90 percent, depending on the type of control equipment installed.
The grant recipients are:
• Anna Local Schools, Shelby County
• Benton Carroll Salem School District, Ottawa County
• East Holmes Local Schools, Holmes County
• Greenville City Schools, Darke County
• Marion City School District, Marion County
• Rossford Exempted Village Schools, Wood County
• Sylvania City Schools, Lucas County
• Waverly City Schools, Pike County
The next grant application deadline is March 1, 2013. Online applications are available. Priority is given to applicants in areas that do not meet federal air quality standards for fine particulates, and to districts that employ additional measures such as anti-idling programs to reduce emissions from school bus fleets.
Since its inception, the Ohio EPA School Bus Grant program has awarded more than $7.5 million to install pollution control equipment on 2,491 school buses statewide, and idle reduction equipment on 771 buses, removing more than 151 tons of pollutants from the air.
