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Vermont and Other States Have
Banned Bus Idling at Schools
 Banning school bus idling can be done in individual schools and school districts as well as at the state level.
Dandelions Unlimited is currently researching and writing up individual schools that have banned school bus idling.
The Power of Youth
by Thomas Langston Reeves Smith, Ph. D.
Dandelions Unlimited Volunteer, Army Major retired, Economic Forecaster for the Washington State Department of Transportation, and editor of The Hybrid Vehicle and Alternative Fuel Report
April 25, 2008
Students in Vermont can breath easier now, thanks to a seventh-grade social studies class from Browns River Middle School. The seventh graders drafted and lobbied for legislation banning school buses from idling on school property. At the time the bill was signed by Vermont’s governor, Jim Douglas, the supporters of the bill estimated that the bill, in addition to reducing toxic emissions, would save over $300,000 in fuel costs (Associated Press, May 26, 2007).
This law benefits both the environment and public health. Diesel exhaust from school busses contains carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, arsenic, volatile organic compounds, and carbon monoxide, all of which affect the health of children who breathe these compounds. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 48 million children who suffer from asthma and other respiratory problems have their symptoms aggravated by walking through diesel exhaust (Neubelt, December 12, 2007), while Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation believes that school bus idling contributes to school absences from asthma, the number one cause of absences in the United States (Valentinetti, December 11, 2007).
Vermont joined several other states that have banned school bus idling. Some of those states are Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island (Arnold, December 12, 2007). Other states have laws that restrict the amount of time school busses can idle on school grounds. Some of those states are California and Minnesota. A few other states like New Mexico and Washington are requiring educational organizations to use alternative fuel, hybrids, or clean diesel (State Environmental Resource Center).
So, how do you get your school or school district to ban school busses and other vehicles from idling? Washington State’s Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and Airwatch Northwest has a complete toolkit that includes an action checklist, letter and media templates, and tips to recruit school bus drivers, sponsors, and other partners to help eliminating vehicle emissions near schools. You can find this information at this link: Click Here
References
Anti-Idling Programs. Airwatch Northwest.
Associated Press. 2007, May 26. Governor signs into law bill to ban school bus idling. The Boston Globe [Electronic edition].
Neubelt, Amanda. 2007, December 12. Schools prepared for idling ban. Small Town Papers News Service.
State Environmental Resource Center. School bus diesel emissions.
Valentinetti, Richard A. 2007, December 11. Comments on proposed Vermont Board of Education Rule 6001 to limit school bus idling. Air Pollution Control Division, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.
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