MTA May Drop Plan to Buy More Methanol-Fueled Buses

Though smoky diesel buses still prompt more air-pollution complaints than any other source, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority may abandon its plan to shift to cleaner-burning methanol vehicles.

Transit authorities say they are concerned by the costs of purchasing and operating the cleaner-burning vehicles, particularly at a time when the agency is facing budgetary problems.

Regulators and environmentalists say they are alarmed by what they view as a retreat from efforts to rid the air of pollutants produced by traditional diesel-powered buses.

Officials of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates air emissions in much of four counties in Southern California, say they will offer a plan Monday at a meeting of the MTA board’s operations committee that they hope could save the program.

“This is the single most important test of our clean fuels program to date,” said Paul Wuebben, clean fuels officer in the AQMD’s technology advancement office. “It can signal a continuation of our commitment to commercialize cleaner technologies,” Wuebben said, “or that Southern California has stopped its progress.”

The 345 methanol buses in use by the MTA constitute the world’s largest fleet powered by the alternative fuel. The MTA had planned to order 304 new methanol buses--to add to a fleet of 2,350 buses.

But facing a $120-million budget deficit, MTA staffers are quietly pondering the trade-offs of paying an estimated $1 million to $4 million more each year to buy and operate the new buses than the agency would have to pay for diesel versions.

“It’s an agonizing reappraisal and discussion internally,” said Rich Davis, MTA director of equipment engineering and advanced technology, “and no decisions have been made yet.”

The cheaper diesel buses would meet current air-quality standards, but are not as clean-burning as those powered by methanol.

The cleanest available diesel technology emits 21.5 grams of nitrogen oxides per bus per mile--barely meeting state Air Resources Board standards--compared with 8.6 grams for the methanol buses, Wuebben said. Emissions of particulates, the other smog component trailing behind transit buses, are 90% lower in methanol buses.

Besides the missed opportunity to lower air pollution, environmentalists and the AQMD see any retreat by the MTA as a blow to the area’s air-pollution control plan and discouraging news to the budding methanol bus manufacturing industry.

“It would be a major step backward for our planned phaseout of diesel buses,” Wuebben said, “and a potential death-knell for market demand for cleaner buses. It could kill manufacturers’ plans to commercialize cleaner engine technology.”

Behind the scenes, the AQMD and methanol producers have sought to help MTA buy the cleaner buses.

The fuel producers have offered to cut the price of methanol to the transit authority from 48 cents to 42 cents a gallon.

The plan to be offered by the AQMD on Monday also involves a variation on a new concept in environmental controls. Companies that reduce their air emissions beyond current standards are allowed to sell “credits” to other firms so that they can exceed their limits. The program is carefully regulated so that pollution levels show an overall reduction.

In this case, the AQMD has forged an agreement with the Los Angeles Times in which The Times would buy an air pollution emissions credit from the MTA on the condition that the agency buys the cleaner methanol-powered buses.

Wuebben Friday estimated that the combined savings would close the gap in cost between the two technologies to between $1 million and $2 million.

This may not satisfy the MTA.

“We’re probably a month from a decision,” said the MTA’s Davis, “and a lot of water could go under the bridge in that time.”

But Davis noted that the MTA’s most important role is to provide public transportation.

“My job here is to deliver the lowest cost service to the public and meet all environment rules and goals,” Davis said. “Obviously, if we can find ways to offset the costs, the alternative fuel becomes very feasible.”

Complicating the decision are changing fuel prices and uncertainty over the working life of the methanol buses--which use a much newer technology than diesel.

On Oct. 1, diesel prices are expected to go up anywhere from 6 cents to 18 cents a gallon, as state rules require cleaner-burning diesel to go on sale. Beyond this, the MTA is looking at other, potentially much cleaner buses being researched.

“You don’t want to damn a technology too soon,” Davis said, “but neither do you want to stick your head in the sand and decide (methanol) is the best technology.”

The air-pollution credit would allow The Times to generate its own electricity--in a pinch--with five diesel generators at an Orange County facility.

State public utility rules encourage utilities to find ways to avoid building new power plants. In one such program, Southern California Edison offers large commercial electricity users lower rates if they promise to generate their own electricity on an emergency basis if the utility experiences a power shortfall.

Under the proposed agreement, The Times would pay the MTA a one-time fee of $230,000--which represents the value of the pollution savings to the MTA of buying some of the additional methanol buses.

In turn, the permit would allow The Times a savings of $370,000 annually for 10 years on its Edison electric bill. In the history of this program, no company has yet been called on to fire up its backup generators.