EPA awards state half-million dollar grant to further reduce diesel school bus pollution

South Carolina is getting a $553,918 grant to help further reduce the amount of pollution created by diesel school buses, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today. The federal funds will be used to replace old buses with new low emission hybrids and to retrofit existing buses with cleaner technology.

“This grant is a great investment in environmental protection and will provide long-term economic benefits for South Carolina,” said Stan Meiburg, EPA’s acting administrator in Atlanta. “It will help bolster the economy and protect public health and the environment by creating green jobs that improve air quality.”

EPA is using dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) to fund proposals from last year’s National Clean Diesel Campaign grant competition. The state project will create jobs while protecting South Carolina’s air quality, EPA said.

The South Carolina Department of Education will replace four existing 65-passenger school buses with four hybrid electric buses. The SDE will also retrofit crankcase ventilation filtration systems on 500 of its 1995 model buses. That upgrade will result in an estimated 4.7 ton reduction in diesel emissions.

“This is a significant step given the number of older, more polluting buses that we still have in our state fleet,” Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said. “These retrofits will cut down on exhaust and soot that can pose health risks to adults and children alike.’

Rex said the new grant supports SDE pollution control efforts that began several years ago. The state received a $244,500 Clean School Bus USA grant last year and half-a-million dollars under the same program in 2006. The latest grant was one of six announced today in EPA’s southeast region.

Education officials will work with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to decide where the four new hybrid electric buses will be put into service, based on environmental and air quality conditions throughout the state.

South Carolina took delivery of two plug-in hybrid diesel-electric buses in 2007. Hybrids are more expensive than a standard diesel bus, but have lower fuel costs and greatly-reduced emissions. The new grant will also pay for DHEC to conduct training on specific actions school bus drivers should take to eliminate unnecessary diesel idling.