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Superintendent of Schools unveils clean machines

County office wants all buses to be eco-friendly

BY LISA SCHENCKER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: lschencker@bakersfield.com | Monday, Jul 2 2007 10:40 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Jul 3 2007 7:19 AM

The first money from settlements between environmentalists and developers is about to hit Bakersfield streets -- literally.

The Kern County Superintendent of Schools office unveiled seven new clean-burning buses Monday. The buses use compressed natural gas, which burns cleaner than typical fuel. Thirty-eight of the office's 89 buses are clean-burning.

Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry Reider said his office hopes to lead by example.

"We feel it's the right thing to do with our air quality here," Reider said.

The seven buses cost about $1.15 million. Of that, nearly $330,000 is from the Kern County Air Pollution Mitigation Fund in which some local developers pay fees to offset air pollution caused by new developments. Local developers started paying fees into the fund in recent years as a result of a series of settlements between the Sierra Club and the developers.

The developers generally pay about $1,200 into the fund for each home built, said local Sierra Club chapter vice chairman Gordon Nipp.

Local developer Craig Carver said developers weren't thrilled at first about the fees. But now all developers must pay some fees that eventually go toward the environment in one form or another, he said.

Carver also is one of three members of a committee that oversees how the money is spent.

"We all have to breathe the air here, and I think it's a necessary step we took," Carver said.

The money is the first the fund has paid out so far. The fund expects to dole out an estimated total of $7 million over the next five years in Kern County.

Though the buses look almost the same as regular ones, they are expected to reduce emissions significantly.

Each releases about one ton fewer pollutants each year compared with buses made before 1980, many of which are still on the road, according to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office.

"It's a real plus for the whole community," Nipp said. "It's a fairly effective way of dealing with air pollution."

The buses cost about $160,000 each compared with diesel buses that cost about $120,000 each, said Superintendent of Schools Transportation Services Director Paul Linder. But the compressed natural gas costs about one-third less than diesel, which helps offset the cost, Linder said.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District also paid $317,772 toward the buses' purchase. The Superintendent of Schools office put in $470,232, and $36,832 came from the state Small School Districts Bus Replacement program.

Reider said his office's goal is to buy seven more of these buses each year until all the buses are clean-burning.