Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 06/15/2008 10:25:05 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
For hundreds of California school districts already facing profound budget problems, the proposed diesel-soot regulations from the Air Resources Board couldn’t come at a worse time: The ARB is pondering a new rule that would require schools to buy new buses—they average about $150,000 each--or retrofit older ones at $20,000 or more per vehicle.
The strapped districts also are crying foul over what they see as a betrayal by the ARB. The original diesel rule excluded school buses; the latest version of the rule includes them. The ARB, conducting hearings around the state, is expected to make a final decision in October in Fresno.
“We’re in a crisis,” said Stephen Rhoads of the School Transportation Coalition, which represents school districts. “The rule says if you can’t put diesel traps on the buses, you’ve got to replace them. It says replace the engine, but you can’t replace the engine on these old buses, you’ve got to replace the bus.”
Ralph Meza, transportation director for the Fresno Unified School District, where 9,500 students take the bus each day, said the new rule would carry a $6 million local price tag to retrofit buses or buy new ones. Of the district’s 96 buses, 49 are pre-1976—which means all of them would have to be replaced.
“This is a big impact on the school districts. To be honest, I don’t know some of us are going to be able to do it,” he said. “I’m all for cleaning the air. I’ve got kids in school, too. I think it’s a great thing. But what is the impact going to be?”
Rhoads estimates that the proposed rule would cost school districts statewide some $500 million to buy or retrofit some 3,000 buses—the 2,300 buses that predate 1986, and some 700 buses that are 1994 or older. Rules requiring seat belts and lap restraints, which cut seating in a 78-seat bus to 65, will require more buses on the road to move the same number of students.
The potential impact on school districts is one piece of the proposed regulation, which the ARB says would affect about 420,000 on-road diesel vehicles registered in California, plus an unknown number of out-of-state diesel vehicles, mostly trucks, that ply California’s highways. The rule is part of the plan the ARB approved eight years ago to cut diesel soot by 85 percent below 2000 levels by 2020. Using that plan as a guide, the ARB has already approved regulations for off-road diesel equipment, harbor craft, docked ships and stationery farm equipment, among others, and more regulations are pending.
The economic impact of such rules is vast, but health considerations must come first, said ARB spokeswoman Karen Cesar. Diesel soot causes about 2,900 premature deaths a year in California, about 3,600 hospital admissions and some 240,000 asthma attacks and respiratory symptoms according to the ARB.
“We consider the economic impact, in fact we are required to do so by law, but our primary mission is protecting the health of the public. We cannot disregard the health of the public—that is our number one concern,” Cesar said.
School districts also note that the state, with some 1,200 school districts, trails the nation in the percentage of students who use school buses and that increased use of school buses would ease congestion and improve air quality. The state meanwhile pays for less than 50 percent of the cost of local district transportation, even though the state requires that the service be available.
About 16 percent of California students regularly ride the school bus to or from school, less than a third of the national average of 54 percent. “In 1985, 23 percent of our children rode school buses. In 20 years, we’ve had a 40 percent decline in the percentage of children that ride buses.”
Surrounding the proposed on-road diesel regulation is a cloud of conflicting numbers, making it difficult to accurately assess the regulation’s economic impact.
The staff of the ARB, which has revised its figures, says the rule, which would apply to shuttle buses and vehicles greater than 14,000 pounds, would have affect some 420,000 on-road vehicles registered in California, plus an unknown-number of out-of-state trucks.
The trucking industry says those numbers are understated. The California Trucking Association believes at least 500,000 California-registered vehicles would be directly affected, plus 1.5 million trucks registered outside the state that regularly cross into California.
“They have consistently estimated that the impact of the regulation will be in the $3 billion to $5 billion range,” said Julie Sauls, vice president of the California Trucking Association. Sauls noted that the ARB had revised its estimates of the number of vehicles affected by the proposed rule, but its estimate of the dollar impact has remained unchanged.
“The question I would raise is how can the inventory number change, yet the cost never fluctuates. We are still waiting to see that data,” she said.
For the school buses, retrofitting can be especially difficult, said Mike Rey, of the California Association of School Transportation Officials.
“Public transit buses typically are on the road for 12 to 15 years max, and they get federal, state and local matching funds. School buses in California typically average more than 30 years. Some districts have buses older than 35 years, even 40 years.”
The age is important because the oldest buses cannot be retrofitted—they have to be replaced. But even with matching funds—there is money available from voter-approved Proposition 1B and other sources—it is difficult for districts to come up with the cash.
But for the ARB, the over-riding concern is air quality and public health.
“California does have the poorest air quality in the nation, and even though the air is much better than it was decades ago we have a long way to go. This regulation is a living, breathing document and can be changed. We’re listening,” Cesar said.
Time for a nationwide moratorium on new environmental regulations. Costs are completely out of hand as it is, without adding to the burden. This quest for purity can wait for the return of more prosperous times, since it is a luxury.
Hey, just like the U.S. Constitution…How convenient…
This is at the same time that Congress is having problems extending the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Self Determination Act funds and appropriating PILT funds. These are the funds that backfilled the County schools and road departments for the loss of timber receipts off National Forest caused by the harvest restrictions from the Northwest Forest Plan and Salmon listings. (The rural forest counties get 25% of federal timber harvest profits.) PILT is payment in lieu of taxes. (The federal government pays no property taxes. PILT is pennies on the dollar of what property taxes would have been back in the early 1900s when the land was withdrawn from settlement.)
In our small county, Secure Schools money is $9 million. Half of this goes to the schools and roughly half to our road department. (It constitues half of our road depts. budget.) So they take away revenues at the same time they are piling on prohibitively expensive regulations.
One would think they want to break the counties and move to regional government. ;}
$150k for a school bus??? For that amount you could almost get a Bentley or some other ridiculous exotic car.
Hey! Thats a forty mile walk to work for me. Not all in CA support those dickheads in Sacremento. Just three more years and I can retire and get the hell out of this state.
All this requires is more taxes. It’s all for the children
“…but health considerations must come first…
Lack of food, becoming emaciated, and eventually dying of starvation is not a health consideration.
“Diesel soot causes about 2,900 premature deaths a year in California, about 3,600 hospital admissions and some 240,000 asthma attacks and respiratory symptoms according to the ARB.”
More crap.
Prove it.
I want to see medical scientific data/analysis with names attached and how and where the studies/tests were conducted and who were the patients and what were their medical condition before.
There is a profound danger in creating organizations like CARB. Even though it may seem like a good idea at the time there are very negative consequences down the road a bit. After an organization like CARB has essentially done their job, they still exist. They still have a staff and a budget. To my knowledge there are no sunset provisions. They will look for things to keep busy and they will find them. They need to justify their existence. The case with the school buses is just a small example of the damage they can do. We need to disband CARB. They serve no purpose today.
$150k for a school bus??? For that amount you could almost get a Bentley or some other ridiculous exotic car.
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They should buy low mileage used busses from other states ,, here in FL I can buy a 91 passenger diesel pusher with low miles for about $10K ,, even if you spent 10-20K rebuilding everything you’d come out cheaper and the enviro regs apply to the build date so it would come in under old regs...
Sounds like they could implement the old “smog pump” scam ,,, many gas engines beginning in 1968 (and up to 1975 when catalytic converters were introduced) used an engine driven air pump to dilute the exhause to pass the tests ,, same as you’re describing with the NOx rules changes.. you could simply have an air inlet with a one-way valve and have exhaust flow pull in the additional outside air... the objective is to jump through the greenies hoops ,, not actually do anything useful.
They have already gotten their way with heavy construction equipment, if machinery is older then 2007 you must replace it according to engine HP and count of equipment you own. In our case that is five pieces that we have to replace beginning 2011, of course they have a program that will financially assist us at $5,000.00 a year. We install underground utilities and it took 14 years to purchase our equipment. The ARB dust control police (lawyer) teaching the dust school class (required) was quite happy about the ruling and said they were also going to go after the farmers.
“150k for a school bus??? “
Not really so surprising. A large SUV, like an Escalade or Navigator, starts out with a list price of about $50,000 and can hold no more than 8 people. If you go for a full size RV that’s about the size of a school bus, you’ll pay north of $200K.
What makes you think it's actually about diesel soot? What makes you think that this has anything to do with common sense ideas like buying a used bus in Florida? Half a billion dollars for 2,900 "premature" deaths is $172,000+ each. This is just another way to transfer hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to whoever is best greasing the palms of the right CARB bureaucrats. Follow the money - what are the connections between Blue Bird, Thomas, Collins, etc. and the people pushing this change in CARB?
Love the numbers. Gotta keep the burrocrats employed.
This is just another way to transfer hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to whoever is best greasing the palms of the right CARB bureaucrats. Follow the money
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You’re preaching to the choir ... I agree with all the anti-CARB posts here ,, I don’t think anyone is getting paid off per-se but I do believe the CARB members are anti free market and anti-capitalist Marxists who are implementing their ideology and feathering their nests (ridiculous pay and retirement benefits etc. etc.) at the same time ... If Cali wasn’t so important to the nations economy I’d say Kalifornia deserves what they get from those clowns ,,, time for a revolution on the left coast...
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