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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, ­ Monday, June 11, 2001

INFORM JOINS PUBLIC ADVOCATE MARK GREEN IN CALLING FOR CLEAN FUEL SCHOOL BUSES; NEW YORK LAGS BEHIND IN PROTECTING CHILDREN'S HEALTH

New York, NY -- ­ INFORM, a national authority on alternative fuel technologies, joins Public Advocate Mark Green in calling for New York State to support clean fuel school buses. Each day, over 45,000 yellow school buses ­ more than in any other single state ­ carry more than two million of New York's children to and from school. Only a handful of these buses are alternative-fueled. Of New York City's fleet of over 5,000 buses ­ the largest fleet in the country ­ only one is clean-fueled. In contrast, other states ­ including Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and California ­ are moving forward with alternative fuel school bus programs.

"By helping school districts to invest in clean fuel school buses, such as those powered by natural gas or electricity, New York State can demonstrate a commitment to the health, as well as to the education, of its children," says Joanna Underwood, the founder of INFORM. "The success of compressed natural gas (CNG) school bus programs across the nation shows that clean fuel technologies are fully commercial. What's needed is state commitment and funding."

Successful use of natural gas school buses in fleets illustrates what can be done. For example:

• In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 147 of the school district's 850 buses burn cleaner fuels, including 55 powered by natural gas.
• Ardmore, Pennsylvania (Lower Merion School District) has more than 60 CNG buses and has committed to buy only these from now on.
• The Indiana-Evansville Vandenburgh School Corporation, a pioneer in clean fuel bus use, has 182 natural gas buses.
• California Energy Commission's school bus demonstration program has put 270 natural gas buses on its roads.

"The experience of these programs should be adequate to convince skeptical operators that safe, durable, and much cleaner alternative fuel school buses can be put on the roads of our city without sacrificing bus performance," says Candace Morey, Senior Research Associate at INFORM. "These cities have found federal, state and local sources of support to pay for the costs involved, including the purchase of natural gas buses and the installation of refueling infrastructure to support them. If New York State wants to be a leader in alternative fuels, it can't neglect school buses."

The two leading school bus manufacturers, Bluebird and Thomas-Built, both sell natural gas school buses as commercial products, incorporating CNG engines from John Deere and Cummins. The latest school buses represent drastic improvements over past technologies, including the "repowered" buses tested in New York State in the early 1990s. In contrast to repowered buses, which are diesel buses fitted with CNG engines, the new buses are designed and built to burn natural gas. In some cases, school districts using these new buses have realized lower operating costs with CNG, making natural gas cost-competitive with diesel in spite of higher purchase prices.

"No city needs cleaner, healthier air for our children more than New York, with one of the highest rates of children's asthma in the country," says Underwood. A new natural gas school bus can reduce smog-forming emissions by over 40 percent and soot emissions by over 80 percent, compared to a new diesel school bus. These emissions irritate children's lungs and are a trigger for asthma attacks.

"New York has the exciting opportunity to take advantage of advanced technology today," Underwood continues. "This is an investment we can't afford not to make in our children's future."

INFORM, Inc. is a national environmental research organization, based in New York City, which identifies practical ways of living and doing business that represent real progress toward environmental sustainability. For fifteen years, INFORM has analyzed state-of-the-art alternative fuels and advanced technologies in transportation that represent viable alternatives to highly polluting, oil-derived (gasoline and diesel) fuels.

Please see INFORM's reports on alternative transportation fuels and advanced vehicle technologies.