Healing Our World: Weekly Comment

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

The Myth of Bus Transportation as Pollution Control

"We occasionally stumble over the truth
but most of us pick ourselves up
and hurry off as if nothing had happened."
-- Winston Churchill

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth - persistent, persuasive and realistic."
-- John F. Kennedy

Government and industry leaders will often tell us that if more people rode public transportation, specifically buses, our air pollution problems would lessen dramatically. Unfortunately, the reality is that most buses are unsafe and pollute much more than the individual automobiles they supposedly replace.

Even many environmentalists will declare that they are contributing more to the health of our Earth by riding buses. Unfortunately, the facts do not support this belief.

Most public and school buses alike run on diesel fuel, now considered one of the most deadly fuels around. California has discovered that 70 percent of the cancer risk from air pollution in the state is attributed to diesel. Over 15,000 Californians will die of diseases caused by breathing those fumes each year.

Children get on the bus for school. (Photo courtesy NREL)

Children in particular suffer from breathing school bus pollution, which has been linked to missed school days, asthma, hospitalizations, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, heart disease, premature death. Children in major urban centers have reduced lung capacity and asthsma.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that smog leads to 10 to 20 percent of all summertime respiratory hospital visits. In the United States, 25 million children ride 450,000 school buses, 90 percent of which are powered by diesel fuel.

The EPA’s New England Region website says, “A major problem with diesel fuel is that the exhaust contains significant levels of small particles, known as fine particulate matter. Diesel engines are the third largest human-made source of fine particles contributing more than 20 percent of directly emitted fine particles.”

The interim results of a 10 year study by the University of Southern California shows that fine particles and nitrous oxide pollution can lead to up to a 10 percent loss of lung capacity. It is worse than breathing second hand smoke and may cause asthma in children which results in 10 million lost school days per year.

The average diesel fueled school bus puts out 14 pounds of soot each year and 417 pounds of smog. New diesel school buses are not much better, emitting 5.6 pounds per year of soot and 322 pounds of smog. Even natural gas burning buses emit a half a pound of soot and 215 pounds per year of smog.

Children are more sensitive to air pollution because they breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults.

In a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Washington State joins California in having the worst pollution record with their school buses. A few states were given “B” grades, but none were making significant progress. But 19 states maintain a total of 3,000 buses that were built before 1977. These older buses do not have to meet more protective federal safety standards!

Since 1997, the Medford School District in New Jersey has used a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum (B20) in half of its fleet. (Photo by Joe Biluck Jr. courtesy NREL)

Trucks are a huge, often ignored factor. Another UCS report said, “Although trucks account for less than six percent of the miles driven by highway vehicles in the United States, they are responsible for one-quarter of the smog producing pollution from highway vehicles, over half the soot from highway traffic, the majority of the cancer threat posed by air pollution in some urban areas, six percent of the nation's global warming pollution, and over one-tenth of America's oil consumption.”

We have all seen buses idling, especially tour buses that sometimes idle for hours. A typical heavy duty truck or bus can burn approximately one gallon of diesel fuel for each hour it idles, generating significant amounts of pollution, wasting fuel, and causing excessive engine wear.

The EPA will not be outlawing diesel engines. The agency is requiring reductions of diesel pollution from new heavy duty diesel trucks and buses, but the EPA is mandating this by ordering changes in the formula for diesel fuel. This will not eliminate the problem.

Diesel powered buses in other countries are choking them – and eventually us - to death. A report by the United Nations Development Programme said, “If all diesel buses in developing countries were replaced by 2020 with fuel-cell buses operating on hydrogen produced from natural gas, this could cut 440 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Additionally, up to 40 percent of dangerous airborne particulate matter swirling through city streets would also be eliminated.”

Safety is another issue we rarely think about while riding buses as an alternative to driving individual cars. Many states are enacting strict laws that make it illegal to drive your car without wearing your seatbelt, since it is well established that wearing a seatbelt can save your life in an accident.

So why is it that 99 percent of the buses in the nation’s fleet have only one seat belt on board – for the driver? Less than one percent of all large buses in the U.S. currently have seat belts. Some people suggest that the evidence is unclear about whether or not they matter! What is really at issue is the cost of installing the belts. Once again, your safety – and your very life - is for sale to the lowest bidder.

Bus in Dallas runs cleaner on liquid natural gas. (Photo courtesy Dallas Area Rapid Transit)

Of course the presence of seat belts does not guarantee their use, and it is true that different restraint systems would be necessary for smaller children, but the fact remains that some restraint system could save lives. Still, cities, school districts, and bus manufacturers would rather save money. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board continue to study the issue.

Scientific studies rarely yield universal truths. Rather, they usually provide us with a conclusion based on the assumptions and biases of the researchers. The results are often further obscured by the agenda of the organization paying for the study. Challenge your own assumptions about what is right, what is safe, and what makes sense.

If it doesn’t seem right to you, then it probably isn’t.

Think twice the next time you get on a bus or you put your children on one. You will be putting your life at risk, one way or another.

RESOURCES

1. See the Union of Concerned Scientists' report on the nation’s school buses at: http://www.ucsusa.org/releases/02-07-02.html

2. See the EPA’s regulatory announcement about diesel by clicking here.

3. Learn more about the health effects on children from diesel exhaust at: http://www.ehhi.org/pubs/children_diesel.html

4. Learn about government sponsored alternative energy efforts at: http://www.ccities.doe.gov/, but don’t hold your breath waiting for a near-term solution.

5. Read more about the bus seatbelt issue at: http://www2.mms.org/vitalsigns/aug01/ph1.html

6. Read a list of reasons why seatbelts should be required on school buses.

7. If you have kids on school buses, review with them the safety tips at: http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch/out/car_safety_p3.html and teach them how to stay away from the fumes from the outside of the bus. Tell them to ask the driver to turn off the bus if they are sitting in it while it is parked and left idling.

8. Contact your local school boards, city council, and state governor. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Demand that they work for meaningful diesel regulations that mandate replacement of the nation’s diesel bus fleet with buses that are powered by clean burning fuel. And tell them to mandate seat belts. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html

{Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle and the author of "Healing Our World", A Journey from the Darkness Into the Light," available at: http://www.xlibris.com/HealingOurWorld.html or your local bookstore. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at: jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his website at: http://www.healingourworld.com}