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Local Spotlight:
School Bus Idling in Illinois

From the CleanSchoolBus.org Campaign Alliance Alert

Spring/Summer 2004 Local Spotlight
In January 2004, the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago (ALAMC) and the Illinois Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) submitted legislation in the Illinois General Assembly to limit the time school buses can idle. Armed with preliminary data from the ALAMC school bus study, and the passionate support of past school board member and current State Representative Sandra Pihos, ALAMC and HSC worked to increase support for idling limits among local interests.

While efforts to support the legislation earned backing from many key legislators, there was still a great deal of opposition.  "Many people simply didn’t understand the real issue, protecting children’s health. Instead we heard people telling us that we can not take local control away from school districts," said Mark Bishop, State Policy Director with the Healthy Schools Campaign. "That was a big hurdle to overcome in our first year with this legislation."

Working with Representative Pihos, ALAMC and HSC were able to gather enough support to rewrite and pass a resolution urging the State Board of Education and all local school districts to recognize the health implications of diesel exhaust exposure and to pass idling limits on their bus fleets. The resolution was then distributed to all 900 school districts in Illinois along with a survey to gauge school administrator attitudes at cleaning up diesel buses.

ALAMC and HSC recognize that this is only the beginning of an important campaign. "Our next steps are to reach out to our stakeholders and broaden the support for healthier school buses. This is an ongoing process and ultimately we need to do whatever we can to protect the health of children in Illinois," said Rochelle Tafolla, American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

To read the full Alliance Alert, please visit http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/trucks_and_buses/page.cfm?pageID=1453