Guthrie Schools receive Clean Diesel Grant

Guthrie Public Schools was awarded nearly $50,000 in grant money and in the process will help save money, help the environment and give students cleaner air while riding on the school buses.

The $49,629.36 Clean Diesel Grant was awarded to the school district from the Air Quality Division at the Department of Environmental Quality. The division will pay 100% of the retrofit cost.

The grant was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The DEQ Executive Director, Steven A. Thompson, presented Assistant Superintendent Dennis Schulz with a five-star plaque labeled Watch Us Turn Yellow Buses Green!

Schulz was also given a citation by Tyler Powell the Director of the Office Secretary of Environment.

The school district will be retrofitting thirty-one buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and closed crankcase ventilation systems. The grant requires the school to keep the buses on the road for five years.

The buses that have been retrofitted will see substantial reductions in their tailpipe emissions meaning less toxic exhaust outside the buses and cleaner air inside where students are riding.

Additional emission reductions are expected as the school initiates a district-wide Idle Reduction Program which will reduce idling times for buses waiting on school grounds to load/unload students. Idle reduction programs have been shown to cut idling emissions by up to 50%. Fuel savings from idle reduction plans have also proven to be appreciable.