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Home › Articles › Safety › Diesel Danger

Diesel Danger

How School Bus Emissions Are Harmful to Children

By Suzy Feine

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(Yale University Press, 1996) suggests measures to take to change laws and protect our children from harmful toxins.

On May 9, 2002, Governor Jesse Ventura signed a bill calling on Minnesota schools to minimize students' exposure to toxic diesel emissions. According to Michelle Rosier, organizer of the Air Toxics campaign for the Sierra Club, Minnesota is the first state to pass this law that addresses minimizing idling and moving buses parking away from air-intake vents. Ten other states – California, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Alabama, Texas, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Vermont – have taken action to minimize children's exposure to diesel emissions since February 2002.

To further combat the issue, the North Star chapter of the Sierra Club recently implemented the School Bus Diesel Campaign. This campaign's main purpose is to reduce the exposure of students to diesel pollution. "The Sierra Club has partnered with the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance to provide resources and assistance to all school districts in the state to minimize children's exposure to school bus diesel," says Rosier. "We have started the Cleaner Bus School program, allowing schools to enroll as a Cleaner Bus School by adopting no idling policies, redesigning parking or location of air-intake vents and/or providing education on diesel emissions to parents and students."

School Bus Diesel Campaign
Over the next few years, the Sierra Club plans to roll out the School Bus Diesel Campaign nationally. School districts nationwide will be encouraged to effect change at their schools. Each school district will be asked to examine their bus idling policies and location of air intake vents in relation to their bus-loading zone. Schools should post no-idling signs near their bus loading zones, relocate air intake vents away from these zones and redesign bus loading zones, if necessary.

Districts can encourage their bus companies to retrofit filters or oxidation catalysts to reduce harmful bus emissions and to use cleaner fuels such as biodiesel, ultra-low sulfur diesel or compressed natural gas. When new buses are purchased, bus companies should ask the manufacturer if they meet the EPA 2004 emission standards.

Pollution Prevention Grant Programs


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