State Air Board Rejects Rule on School Bus Emissions

The California Air Resources Board on Thursday declined to adopt a rule requiring Southern California’s school buses to maintain strict emissions standards.

The board voted 5 to 3 to reject the proposed rule, which was suggested by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The regulation would have required that any new school buses have the cleanest-burning engines available, rather than older, dirtier diesel engines.

The AQMD adopted rules in 2000 that required cleaner-burning buses in its four-county jurisdiction.

Those rules remain in effect for fleets operated by public agencies. But the air board’s ability to require the same standards for privately operated school buses has been challenged in court.

The AQMD, however, is still enforcing the rules on private contractors.

The daylong debate considered the state agency’s “fuel neutral” stance not to discriminate against a particular type of fuel, the cost to school districts of purchasing new natural-gas buses and whether support for the AQMD rule might draw the Air Resources Board into future lawsuits.

An earlier vote to table the discussion deadlocked 4 to 4.