Diesel School Bus Becomes First to Receive Pollution Control Retrofit in Puerto Rico

Improving Air Quality for School Children

Santa Fe, NM – May 30, 2007 – Exhaust from diesel school buses can be dangerous to the health of children. Puerto Rico has decided it’s time to do something about it.

In May, the country unveiled its first school bus retrofitted with emissions control technology to reduce toxic diesel emissions and improve air quality for Puerto Rican school children.

According to an article published in the journal Population Research and Policy Review, “Puerto Rican children are more likely to have asthma than children in any other racial/ethnic group in the United States.” As noted in a study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health, and the Coalition for Clean Air, riding a diesel school bus may increase the risk of cancer and aggravate respiratory problems in children. Recently E/The Environmental Magazine reported diesel emissions are classified by the EPA as a “likely carcinogen”, with dangers of breathing diesel exhaust ranging from respiratory illnesses like asthma and bronchitis to lung cancer and heart disease. In Puerto Rico, this health threat is especially true for children already impacted by asthma.

The retrofitted diesel school bus was presented during a ceremony in San Juan at the Polytechnic University on May 11th. Alan J. Steinberg, Regional Administrator of the EPA, discussed the benefits of providing air pollution control equipment for aging vehicles. “Pollution from school buses has health implications for everyone, especially asthmatic children. By developing local capacity and promoting the Clean School Bus program in Puerto Rico, where more kids suffer from asthma than anywhere else in the U.S., we are progressively reducing diesel pollution to make that familiar black puff of smoke a relic of the past.”

Air pollution control products and services to retrofit the bus were provided by emissions control manufacturer, CleanAIR Systems, Inc., working in conjunction with emissions reduction consultant, Emisstar. The retrofitted bus is the start of a national initiative aimed at cleaning up school buses throughout the country as a joint effort between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Puerto Rico Clean School Bus USA Workgroup.

Launched in 2003 by the EPA, Clean School Bus USA is a voluntary partnership with the goal of reducing children’s exposure to diesel exhaust through the reduction of unnecessary bus idling, providing funding to retrofit buses with emissions control technology, and replacing older buses with less-polluting models. The majority of Puerto Rican school buses were built prior to 2004. They generate a significant amount of pollutants such as fine particulate matter and can release up to six times more pollution than buses built after 2004. CleanAIR Systems provided the program with an ASSURE DOC (diesel oxidation converter) which will cut school bus emissions of particulate matter by at least 20%, hydrocarbons by 50% and carbon monoxide by at least 60%. The CleanAIR ASSURE DOC can be used with either diesel or biodiesel fuels.

“We’re glad we were able to make a difference in Puerto Rico when it came to cleaning up their school buses,” said Ralph Wintersberger, CleanAIR Sales Engineer. “Emisstar brought this to our attention and jointly our two companies worked with the EPA to get this program off the ground.”

“Emisstar is pleased to lend our expertise to this exciting and important first step in improving the health and well-being of school children in Puerto Rico,” added Glenn Goldstein, Emisstar Principal.

Puerto Rico has also joined the Northeast Diesel Collaborative, allowing it to compete for future EPA grant money in order to purchase air pollution control equipment to retrofit the rest of their bus fleet.

About CleanAIR Systems:
CleanAIR Systems is a technology-based corporation manufacturing emissions control systems with worldwide distribution. Their products are designed to control air pollution such as diesel particulate matter and NOx, for on- and off-road vehicles, as well as stationary machinery and power generation. Visit CleanAIR Systems online at http://www.cleanairsys.com/.


Extras --
The Facts:
The majority of school buses in Puerto Rico are older models which produce six times more pollution than buses manufactured after 2004, creating an unhealthy atmosphere for Puerto Rican school children and contributing to an already high rate of asthma.

Retrofitting their first diesel school bus with emissions control technology supplied pro bono by CleanAIR Systems, Inc., Puerto Rico works with the EPA to establish the Puerto Rico Clean School Bus USA Workgroup.

Information Sources:
Population Research and Policy Review 2005:
Premature Birth and Asthma Among Young Puerto Rican Children
by Bridget K. Gorman and Nancy S. Landale

Environmental Health Perspectives - August 2002
Bad Grades for School Buses – Children’s Health
By Angela Spivey

Emagazine.com – The Environmental Magazine
May 20, 2007
Are my kids breathing in dangerous exhaust fumes by riding the school bus?

Quotes:
“We’re glad we were able to make a difference in Puerto Rico when it came to cleaning up their school buses,” said Ralph Wintersberger, CleanAIR Sales Engineer. “Emisstar brought this to our attention and jointly our two companies worked with the EPA to get this program off the ground.”

“Emisstar is pleased to lend our expertise to this exciting and important first step in improving the health and well-being of school children in Puerto Rico,” added Glenn Goldstein, Emisstar Principal.

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Contact us: mailto:louise@cleanairsys.com

CleanAIR Systems, Inc. Awarded Contract to Retrofit School Buses with Emission Control Systems in Puget Sound

Project will reduce emissions of harmful diesel particulates by more than 90 percent

Santa Fe, NM – November 28, 2001 - CleanAIR Systems, Inc. recently was awarded a contract with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to retrofit school buses with diesel particulate filters and oxidation converters in Everett, Wash. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is funding the Everett Clean Diesel School Bus Retrofit Project, the first voluntary initiative under the agency’s Diesel Solutions Program, through a grant received from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is among the first EPA-funded, on-road retrofit projects to be executed.

“We are proud to participate in this project to help the community of Puget Sound improve its air quality,” said CleanAIR Systems President Michael Roach. “By the end of this year, hundreds of Everett school children will be riding to school on some of the cleanest buses in the world.”

CleanAIR Systems was selected from among other major manufacturers of emission control systems to supply products for this pilot program. The company will equip some of the school buses with its PERMIT™ filter, and others with its ASSURE™ converter. The PERMIT™ filter reduces particulate emissions by 85 percent, and carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons by more than 90 percent. The ASSURE™ converter reduces carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons by more than 90 percent, and particulates by 10 to 50 percent. In addition, the buses will be fueled with ultra-low-sulfur fuel. CleanAIR Systems is working with Durham School Services, owner of the bus fleet and the third largest student transportation contractor in the nation, to retrofit the buses by the end of 2001.

“The Everett Clean Diesel School Bus Retrofit Project is very important to us because it will demonstrate how a school bus fleet in our region can be made dramatically cleaner through the use of cleaner fuels and advanced technology retrofit devices,” said Dennis McLerran, executive director of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. “We are very excited about being able to demonstrate to school districts that these fuels and retrofit devices can make a big difference in how clean their fleets are. There is a growing understanding that diesel exhaust is a health hazard, especially to children, and this project will give very real benefits immediately to the school kids who ride on and play near these buses.”

As part of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s Diesel Solutions Program, the Everett Clean Diesel School Bus Retrofit Project is the first of seven projects to be carried out. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, which serves King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties in Washington, launched its Diesel Solutions program this year to make diesel vehicles in the region dramatically cleaner. The Diesel Solutions Program aims to reduce particulate emissions by 436 tons per year over the next five years. According to the agency, this would reduce 1,505 cases of respiratory symptoms in asthmatic children annually, and prevent 30 to 34 premature deaths each year.

Until this year, parts of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s four-county region had been on the EPA’s nonattainment list because levels of carbon monoxide, ozone and particulate matter persistently exceeded the national ambient air quality standards. The EPA has established maximum concentrations for these priority pollutants, above which adverse health effects may occur. Although no longer classified as nonattainment, the area is now close to exceeding limits for particulate matter and ozone.