From Release:

EPA Region 7 and the Blue Skyways Collaborative will work with Community Partnership’s Ozarks Clean Air Alliance to reduce children's exposure to diesel exhaust through a special $130,301 grant for school bus retrofits.

The Ozarks Clean Air Alliance is a collaborative of Community Partnership and guides the region's education and outreach efforts to reduce the negative effects of air pollution. The Alliance brings together partners from business, education, transportation, and public-health organizations.

The Clean School Bus program will provide funding to retrofit 75 Springfield Public School buses and up to 14 Logan-Rogersville School buses with EPA-verified diesel oxidation catalysts and crankcase filters to reduce pollution. The Diesel Oxidation Catalysts and Crankcase Filters will reduce particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds (VOC).

Exposure to pollutants emitted from diesel buses can cause aggravation of the respiratory system, exacerbation of allergies and asthma, chronic bronchitis, and decrease lung function. Fine particulate matter has also been associated with cardiac arrhythmias and heart attacks in people with heart disease.

As a Blue Skyways Collaborative member, the Ozarks Clean Air Alliance strongly supports efforts to voluntarily reduce the negative effects of air pollution. The purpose of this project is to create a safer, healthier environment for Springfield and Logan-Rogersville Public School children who ride the bus, school staff, and the community at large exposed to exhaust.