BAN ON DIESEL BUSES PUSHED LOCAL REGULATORS TO ASK STATE TO TAKE ACTION.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Saying the nation's smoggiest region needs the toughest pollution controls, air-quality regulators for Southern California will push the state today to essentially ban the purchase of diesel-fueled school buses, garbage trucks and transit buses.

Local regulators want the state to require the operators of public and private fleets to buy the cleanest-burning model available - whether it's natural gas, propane or even gasoline hybrids - as they replace their diesel-fueled vehicles. The goal is to cut the amount of smog-forming and toxic pollution from diesel engines.

Environmentalists and officials from Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles Unified School District support the tough restrictions on diesel, particularly in school buses where children can be exposed to high levels of unhealthy exhaust inside the vehicle.

``LAUSD operates more than 90 compressed natural gas buses, and they have proven to be a practical alternative to diesel,'' school board President Marlene Canter said. ``We owe it to our children to reduce their health risk from breathing toxic diesel exhaust.''

However, a host of smaller school districts and cities say the rules will cost them millions of dollars but deliver only modest air-quality improvements. In addition, they say that new fueling stations and upkeep make natural gas more expensive to cash-strapped local governments.

Doug Snyder with the California Association of Transportation Officials predicted that school district will continue operating diesel-fueled buses long after they should be replaced because of the cost of cleaner-burning models.

``It would seem to us that getting rid of the older buses is a more effective way of reducing emissions than haggling over hundredths of grams of (pollutants) between the two types of fuel.''

But officials with the South Coast Air Quality Management District said the rules require districts to buy alternative fuel buses only when there is public funding available or a fueling station nearby.

The AQMD adopted its alternative fuel fleet rules in 2000 and 2001 to lessen diesel exhaust, which is responsible for 70 percent of the cancer risk from air pollution in Southern California.

The rules required that fleet operators choose alternative-fuel models when they buy new heavy trucks, buses, airport shuttles, street sweepers and garbage trucks.

Engine manufacturers and petroleum companies argued that the rules would essentially ban diesel engines and the industry would have to develop new models for the Los Angeles area. The Supreme Court and lower court later ruled that the AQMD could require alternative fuel for public fleets and private businesses with public contracts.

Engine manufacturers have threatened to appeal the decisions.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

The California Air Resources Board will consider the proposed fleet rules for school buses, garbage trucks and transit buses when it meets at 9 a.m. today at the Air Quality Management District headquarters, 21865 E. Copley Drive, Diamond Bar.