DENTON, Texas — The Denton Independent School District’s efforts to replace their diesel-powered fleet with propane-powered school buses received a boost last week when Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams delivered a check for over $390,000.
Gene Holloway, the transportation director for the community north of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, said the check combines a $82,926.83 grant from the Commission’s Propane OEM School Bus Rebate Program with $308,000 from Blue Bird distributor Rush Enterprises, based on the federal alternative fuel tax credits for 44 school bus he purchased earlier this year.
Holloway said with a 50 cent per gallon equivalent rebate for propane, the alternative fuel has provided even greater returns. Since the beginning of the year, the district has received some $187,000 in rebates from the state railroad commission, he noted.
Holloway estimates the combined incentive programs have supplemented his $3.8 million transportation budget with as much as $1.3 million this year. If programs continue through 2013, as the railroad commission has suggested they will, the department could bring $2.3 million to the district since the program’s inception in 2006.
“That’s good for our tax payers, that’s good for our budget, that’s good for our classrooms and the needs of our district,” he added.
Holloway discussed Denton’s propane and biodiesel programs during a special general session on green school bus fleets during the 2008 STN EXPO Conference this past summer in Reno, Nev.
