District buses to step on the gas?

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- Within the next few years, children in Newport-Mesa

may be riding cleaner, safer school buses that run on compressed natural

gas.

Right now, the school district has 60 old buses that run on diesel

fuel, which pollutes the air and environment around them. But they may

trade 20 of those dinosaurs for cleaner, more efficient models.

For years, the district’s transportation department has been studying

alternative methods of fueling its school buses and maintenance fleets in

preparation for the day when the government would demand it.

That day now looms on the horizon.

The Southern California Air Quality Management District, the

governmental agency that regulates vehicle emissions, has passed a series

of rules that require any agency with fleet vehicles -- from cities to

counties to disposal companies -- to trade a percentage of their fleets

for vehicles powered by an alternative fuel.

That power can be electric, natural gas or even solar, as long as all

agencies are in compliance by July 1, 2002.

Although the rule pertaining to school districts is still pending,

school officials fighting the new regulation have failed to be exempted,

said Mike Fine, assistant superintendent of business services.

“The primary goal of the program is to reduce exposure of

schoolchildren to cancer-causing smog, pollution and emissions from the

older school buses,” said Eric Jetta, director of facilities, maintenance

and operations for the district.

Last year, Jetta and his staff looked into electric-powered vehicles.

Most recently they have been trying out a compressed natural gas car

and, he told the school board Tuesday night, believe it is the way to go.

As a result, the school board heard a presentation from Marci LaMantia, a

representative of the compressed natural gas division of The Gas Company

on Tuesday.

What makes natural gas an attractive option is a series of grants that

will subsidize most, but not all, of the cost of adding the new buses,

Fine said.

Some of the grants pay for buses, others cover the cost of installing

the necessary fueling stations and some pay for a bit of both, LaMantia

said.

Although the deadline to run some alternative-fuel vehicles is more

than a year away, there is some sense of urgency since the deadlines to

apply for many of the grants are in December or January.

School board members were impressed with the materials, presentation

and staff recommendations.

“I think we definitely ought to pursue it,” said trustee Jim Ferryman.

With board approval, Fine and his staff plan to begin applying for the

grants.