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Federal grants pay for retrofitting diesel engines
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal
Published on Friday, Jul 18, 2008
CANTON TWP.: The handkerchiefs told the story.
They were held up to the tailpipes of two diesel-powered Minerva school buses Thursday.
The big yellow vehicles were virtually identical — except one was equipped with two pieces of anti-pollution equipment.
When the engine on the bus with the anti-pollution equipment was started, the handkerchiefs by the tailpipe remained clean and white.
The other bus — not retrofitted — belched out a sooty exhaust that quickly soiled both handkerchiefs.
''It's a big difference,'' David Celebrezze of the Ohio Environmental Council said as he held up the clean and blackened cloths.
The retrofitted bus, he said, also does not produce clouds of foul-smelling and overpowering diesel fumes.
Representatives of the statewide eco-group came to Stark County on Thursday to celebrate a $92,401 grant to the
Alliance and Minerva school districts.
The money from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will enable each district to retrofit six buses with diesel-particulate filters and closed-crankcase-filtration systems.
The demonstration was held at Trucks Sales and Service Inc., which is installing the equipment on the Minerva buses. Western Branch Diesel Inc., also in Canton Township, is equipping the Alliance buses.
Celebrezze said the retrofitting should cut air pollution and reduce by 90 percent students' exposure to harmful diesel exhaust, which includes microscopic soot, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.
That bodes well for healthier students, said Minerva Supt. Douglas J. Marrah.
His district's 25 buses travel 1,900 miles a day through Stark, Carroll and Columbiana counties to transport 2,200 students. That's the distance from Stark County to Florida's Disney World, he said.
Diesel exhaust contains tiny particles of soot and vapors that may have more than 40 toxic contaminants, including cancer-causing substances. The exhaust can damage the lungs and aggravate asthma and bronchitis.
Children are more susceptible to air pollution than adults because their respiratory systems are still developing and they breathe faster.
According to the Ohio Environmental Council, the average Ohio school bus produces 15 pounds of soot a year. The older the bus, the bigger the problem.
Since early 2007, Celebrezze has been working with 18 Stark County school systems to promote such retrofits. That effort has been aided by the Stark Community Foundation and the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation.
Canton Local schools previously won a $154,848 federal grant for the anti-pollution work.
Six more districts — North Canton, Jackson, Plain, Canton City, Massillon and Osnaburg — have applied for nearly $700,000 in federal funds for retrofits. A decision on that joint application is expected by Aug. 1, said David Rude of the Stark County Board of Education.
Revere schools in Summit County and Crestwood schools in Portage County also have received state grants for retrofitting.
Celebrezze said the problem with school buses is that they have ''a dark sooty side.''
Retrofitting the Minerva and Alliance buses is a good move for clean-air compliance and local economic development, he said. That's because Ohio counties that fail to meet federal soot limits by 2010 face economic sanctions.
Stark, as well as Summit, Portage, Medina, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain and Ashtabula counties, violates those limits.
Alliance and Minerva schools also have adopted anti-idling policies to further reduce exposure to bus exhaust.
The districts provided services to cover a 5 percent local match for the grant.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
CANTON TWP.: The handkerchiefs told the story.
Get the full article here.
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