MassCleanDiesel Reduces Air Pollution

School buses are a safe and energy efficient way for children to get to school. But school buses, like all diesel-powered vehicles, pollute the air with harmful gases and particles. Diesel pollution contributes to asthma attacks, respiratory problems, and other diseases. A 2006 MA Department of Health survey of 662,994 students found that 1 in 10 schoolchildren in kindergarten through eighth grade have asthma. Approximately 750,000 students take a bus to school in Massachusetts.

Administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), over the next three years, MassCleanDiesel will retrofit up to 5,500 school buses, virtually all the large, diesel-powered buses currently serving public schools that weigh more than 10,000 pounds and carry more than 10 students at a time. The pollution controls will be installed using $16.5 million in state and federal funds provided by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works (EOT), under an agreement associated with the Big Dig. Participation in the program is voluntary and retrofits are free to the communities and bus companies that enroll.

To receive free retrofits, school bus owners must enroll in the program, obtain estimates from retrofit vendors, and work with those vendors to coordinate equipment installations. MassDEP will reimburse the retrofit vendor directly, provided that installations meet all terms of the program.