Published: 03-18-08
Austin Texas - When Texas school superintendents open their emails after spring break they’ll have a message from Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams. This continues an effort by Williams to get cleaner school buses on the road.
“Texas has over 1200 school districts which have a combined total of tens of thousands of buses” said Williams. “By using alternative fuel school buses such as propane and natural gas or by retrofitting older buses with technologies that reduce emissions Texas children can get to school and back safely cleanly while using less foreign oil.”
There are 36800 school buses in Texas of which about 1500 (4 percent) are propane-powered. About 35 Texas districts currently operate propane school buses. There are an additional 40 plus CNG (compressed natural gas) school buses in the state operated by three districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“Incentives are available at the federal state and local levels that make propane and natural gas buses a common-sense option for school districts” Williams added.
The federal 50-cents per gallon rebate on propane motor fuel brings in about $1500 per year per school bus. A typical grant from the Railroad Commission for replacing a 15-year-old diesel bus is around $12000 per bus. A federal tax credit of up to $30000 per installation is available for propane refueling infrastructure. And the TCEQ’s Texas Clean School Bus Program provides reimbursements of up to $7500 per device for filtration systems on existing diesel buses.
Williams has been a consistent advocate for cleaner burning alternative fuel school buses. In 2001 Williams specially recognized Northside ISD in San Antonio for the district’s commitment to air quality through its propane school bus fleet. He gave the keynote address at the 2004 National Clean Cities Conference.
In 2006 Williams joined other clean air proponents in securing $895000 to develop and certify an original equipment manufactured low-emissions propane school bus and proudly hosted the 2007 unveiling of Blue Bird’s Propane “Vision” school bus the first propane school bus offered by a major manufacturer in the U.S. since 2002.
