Every day, the exhaust gases emitted by cars, trucks, buses and industry hang over the city like a dirty brown blanket. But LA is not alone. Denver, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, even Duluth in my home district in Minnesota and many other cities large and small across this country are fighting the smog each and every day. Federal and state programs have been put in place to help Los Angeles and these other cites address their air quality problems. One such federal program would help reduce pollution through the purchase of transit buses that burn cleaner fuels, but not all the money allocated for that purpose is reaching those cities in greatest need.
Buses make ideal candidates for alternative fuels and technology programs.
They are operated predominantly by government agencies and use centralized fueling stations. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Energy is considering a regulation to require transit systems to switch to vehicles that burn alternative fuels. California has already moved in this direction. The regulation affects about 8,500 buses at 75 transit agencies in California, including an estimated 3,300 buses in the South Coast Air Basin. The regulation moves forward in several steps over the next 10 years, and allows transit agencies to choose a clean diesel or alternative fuels path to lower air emissions.