Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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With the start of the school year upon us, Nevada students are preparing to take on another year of learning. Many are looking forward to seeing their classmates once again, but students with asthma are planning how to best avoid a severe attack from the toxic and climate-inducing fumes from diesel school buses.
Bold leadership by Congress this summer could secure an infrastructure bill to help Nevada transition to clean electric buses and protect students’ health.
I am no stranger to how asthma affects a child’s quality of life. I lived it. Growing up with asthma was an excruciating experience that left me deciding between staying inside during recess or risking the pain and embarrassment of getting an asthma attack while playing outside with friends. Even participation in P.E. class often led to an unwanted attack. To make matters worse, my middle school, which predominantly served students of color and those from low-income families, was situated right next to a diesel bus yard. The exhaust from the idling buses constantly triggered my asthma, making it difficult for me to breathe.
Today, I’m an aunt to a 3-year-old living with asthma and an educator to many high school students now facing many painfully familiar experiences. I know too well about the constant worry of family members that their child may encounter another excruciating asthma attack and disrupt healthy lung development. While we are still fighting to protect children and teachers from COVID-19, we should pay attention to another respiratory-threatening factor: diesel-powered school buses.
Undoubtedly, our school buses play a critical role in ensuring that students get to school on time and safely. However, these same buses, powered by diesel, spew pollution into our neighborhoods that has health implications for everyone. The most harmful exposure is for students inside the buses. Pollution inside these kinds of emitting vehicles could be as much as 10 times ambient levels. Diesel exhaust contains small particles and toxic air pollutants, and long-term exposure is associated with chronic effects on our children’s lungs. We should all be able to agree that children deserve to breathe clean air today and for years to come.
Diesel exhaust from school buses adds to poor air quality that already riddles our community. This year, the American Lung Association graded Clark County an F (again) in its State of the Air report. Scaling back on gasoline-powered vehicles is also a matter of equity. The same report cites people of color as one of the greatest groups at risk of particle pollutants.
This doesn’t have to be the case. Electric school buses produce no tailpipe emissions and can better serve students without producing harmful pollution. According to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, switching from diesel to electric school buses could prevent about 5.3 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year. Certainly, the transition would aid our state in reaching our own climate goals of net-zero emissions by 2050, which according to the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, we are not on track to hit. Without bold action, Nevada will fall 4% short of the 2025 goal and 19% short of the 2030 emissions reduction goal.
The benefits go beyond public and environmental health. The demand for electric vehicles will create thousands of new good-paying jobs in clean energy manufacturing, critical as our economy bounces back from the pandemic. Today, clean energy remains one of the fastest growing industries in the state and across the country.
Electric buses are a win-win-win for Nevada: reducing air pollution, fighting climate change, creating new jobs.
As students plan to return to in-person classes this fall, my fellow educators and I will be laser-focused on the health and safety of our kids, and Congress should do the same. Let’s urge Congress to act now to prioritize students’ health and direct federal investments to jumpstart the transition to electric school buses.
Nevada Assemblywoman Selena Torres, D-Las Vegas, was elected to Assembly District 3 in 2018 and reelected in 2020. She is a high school English teacher in the Clark County School District.
