Schoolchildren endangered by bus emissions, study says

by Ashley Manton

     Samantha Williams is an 11-year-old West Orange, New Jersey, resident who excels in her math and art classes, enjoys watching scary movies and spends close to an hour and a half riding her school bus daily.

     According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, recent studies have found that polluted air can concentrate inside school buses causing Samantha, along with all students who ride New Jersey’s nearly 16,000 school buses daily, to breathe air that is nearly 10 times more concentrated with particulates and soot than she would breathe if standing on the side of a road.

     “That’s hideous. Absolutely hideous,” said Helen Williams, Samantha’s mother, of the UCS statistics. “To be honest I’m not an environmentalist, and I only pay attention to the major issues. It never occurred to me that air quality should be my primary concern with school buses. I’m not quite sure what avenue to push through now, but hearing statistics like those make me consider driving my daughters personally rather than letting them take the bus.”

     While 10 to 13 percent of New Jersey schoolchildren have already been diagnosed with asthma, and the highest rates of adolescent asthma are reported in New Jersey, the UCS studies show that diesel school bus emissions are contributing to the deteriorating lung capacities of children, as well as increasing their risks of asthma, heart disease, bronchitis, lung cancer, allergies and premature death. Asthma is currently the most prevalent cause of student absences in the state.

     New Jersey legislators and voters are advocating more policies to regulate diesel emissions, and while the EPA has called for all states to align with its air quality standards by 2009, New Jersey must meet its own specific air pollution standards by 2007. All 21 counties in New Jersey have air pollution levels above, some of which are more than 650 times higher than, current acceptable EPA standards. The idling of diesel vehicles, including school buses, is a contributor to increasing pollution levels, adding an estimated 400 tons of soot to the pollution levels yearly.

     According to state Assemblyman John F. McKeon, who represents New Jersey’s 27th legislative district, the emissions of diesel trucks are more difficult to control because of interstate commerce laws, but school buses, specifically idling school buses, are a contributor to the overall increasing diesel emissions and are a good place to start when advocating policy.

     “In the big picture related to clean air, school buses are a small portion of the overall problem,” McKeon said. “But they are a part that we can, I think, effectively control.”

     Current legislation prohibits diesel vehicles, including school buses, from idling -- remaining inactive while the engine is running -- for more than three minutes. But according to McKeon, this legislation is difficult to enforce. Although there are alternative options available for providing power, heating, air-conditioning, ventilation and Internet and telephone services without running the buses, such as IdleAire Service Modules, most New Jersey school buses have yet to be equipped with such devices, increasing the chance school bus drivers will leave their buses idling.

     “A lot of drivers won’t shut off their buses because they want to stay warm,” McKeon said. “And much like you can’t always catch every speeder, you can’t catch every bus driver who leaves buses idling.”

     In addition toenforcing the current legislation, school district transportation coordinators can take idling issues upon themselves and require specific idling regulations within their district’s school bus contracts.

     Transportation coordinators and school bus company managers can also sign the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s no-idling pledge. As of March, 2006, 40 New Jersey school districts signed the pledge, promising to implement a number of practices to reduce student and driver exposure to school bus emissions and the subsequent health risks. These practices include using newer buses for longer routes, shutting bus engines while loading and unloading students and eliminating visible exhaust through bus maintenance.

     But some New Jersey legislators are unsatisfied with these options and current legislation and are pushing for stricter idling laws for diesel vehicles, especially because of the adverse health effects soot has on children and the elderly.

     Lisa P. Jackson, NJDEP commissioner, has authorized two proposals (N.J.A.C. 7:27-14.1 and 14.3 and 7:27A-3.10), which will specifically regulate the idling of diesel engines.

     The proposal states, “The Department is proposing these amendments to reduce the number of exemptions to the three-minute diesel idling standard and thereby reduce the amount of diesel exhaust released into the ambient air.

     “Those most susceptible to diesel emissions include the elderly, the very young and those with pre-existing respiratory problems. Because of the carcinogenicity of diesel exhaust and the other health effects that can lead to premature death, the Department is proposing to reduce diesel exhaust emissions.”

     The proposals call for the definition of idling to be specified to include all diesel vehicles that are stationary with running engines, as well as adjust the exceptions under which certain diesel vehicles may idle for more than three minutes, such as regulations for idling in colder temperatures.

     According to Barbara Kivlon, principal of Redwood Elementary School in West Orange, however, many parents are unaware of the air quality standards and school bus diesel emissions. Redwood uses eight buses daily, but in her four years as principal, Kivlon has never had a parent inquire about the health risks of school bus emissions in West Orange.

      “When I look out my front door, I’m more worried about my daughter getting from the front of our house to the corner in one piece. Then I stop and think about what she’s breathing in, and they’re equivalent,” Williams said. “We would never allow poor air quality within the schools. Having my daughter on the bus, to me, is equivalent to having her in a classroom.”

     “I think our school district is very environmentally conscious, especially because of the behaviors I see modeled by the bus drivers who come in, who do stop and don’t idle. I think they’re aware of it and it is important to West Orange,” Kivlon said. “We are a very large school district, we have a lot of buses…and I believe the bus drivers follow regulations and do the right thing.”

     Though West Orange operates only diesel school buses, there are other options for school administrators and parents to consider when concerned about student health effects.

     Other districts across the state have begun to use alternative fuels for powering their buses, decreasing the soot and health effects on children inside the buses. In Medford Township, located in Burlington County, with pollution levels 540 times greater than the permitted EPA levels, the entire 62-school bus fleet runs on 80 percent petrodiesel and 20 percent biodiesel fuel, a diesel substitute made from organic products. Medford was the first school district in New Jersey to operate B20 buses and now has the longest-running program in the nation.

     “Developing research is finding that as the amount of diesel buses increased, the amount of adolescent asthma increased. As kids are being exposed to high level, asthma-triggering emissions, wouldn’t it make sense that that’s a contributor? Maybe it’s not the contributor but is a trigger to increased asthma,” said Joseph Biluck, Jr., director of operations and technology for the Medford Township Board of Education.

     “Biodiesel may not be the answer to every school district, but it’s an option. It’s a no cost option, and it’s an available option.”

     According to McKeon, however, the problem with alternative fuels and state mandates regarding B20 buses is that the processes are costly, especially because of lack of money in his district.

     “The problem with mandating anything is that state mandating means big pay. The state mandate, certainly when we have to pay for it, is difficult to come by. At this point, [switching to B20 buses] is a local decision to be made.”

     After seven years of continuous B20 bus use, Biluck released a report in 2004 regarding the findings of the Medford school district’s use of B20 buses, which were initially introduced into the Medford schools’ transportation system as a demonstration for biodiesel in school buses. Schools are now offered a state rebate program, covering the cost of switching from 100 percent diesel to B20 buses. The rebate program offsets the incremental cost for the use of public entities using biodiesel and covers the difference in cost of diesel and biodiesel fuel.

      According to Biluck, though, citizens must not rely only on legislators and officials to see improvements in school bus regulations and air quality standards. Instead, he said, the most success comes from grassroots movements involving people at the home and school levels.

     “You don’t have to leave it to companies to do this. You don’t have to leave it to fuel suppliers to do this. If people can begin to educate themselves and read up on some of the research and work that has been done across the country, they’ll find that a lot of these programs have been launched by folks just like you and me that have an interest in doing something better,” he said. “Taking something we’ve been doing for the past century and making it work better – not replacing it, but enhancing it; I think that’s the message that needs to come across.”