Bio-diesel is better: a letter to the Sullivan West school board

My son rides the bus to and from school daily. I appreciate the reliable service you provide our kids through First Student Incorporated. I am especially grateful for our excellent bus driver.

I understand that by contract with First Student Incorporated, we taxpayers of the Sullivan West School District provide the fuel for our buses. I urge you to seriously consider converting our buses to bio-diesel fuel.

It is good economic sense move away from fossil fuel consumption, toward something sustainable, available and relatively cheap. My son’s school bus alone gets just over 8 miles to the gallon. We are all keenly aware of the unprecedented cost of fuel and its limited supply. The costs of extracting and transporting fuel from the Middle East, South America, Alaska or the ocean somewhere will only continue to rise. The raw material for biodiesel is used vegetable oil, a waste product, costing, in itself, nothing. The sources for bio-diesel here in the Northeast are many, and increasing. (U.S. demand for bio-diesel tripled in 2006, from 76 million gallons to 226 million gallons.) It costs less than regular diesel. As it becomes more readily available, the cost will decrease. While there would be an initial outlay to convert the (already diesel) buses to bio-diesel, our savings in cheaper fuel will cover conversion costs and reduce costs going forward. Such conversions are subsidized on the state and federal levels. New York’s government has been forward thinking on the issue of alternative energy. There would likely be a tax benefit to our school district.

Bio-diesel burns 50 percent cleaner than diesel overall, and has no exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides or sulfates, which make acid rain. It can be produced on a large or localized scale, anywhere. We have the opportunity to make a real impact in reducing carbon emissions here at home. We hear about global warming daily on the radio and television, and we know it is accelerating. What do you want to tell our children we are doing about it?

The diesel fuel we are currently burning is toxic. My son often feels nauseated from the exhaust fumes on his school bus. He is not the only one. In fact, the students are so often ill that the driver keeps a throw-up bucket on hand. Now that Sullivan West has centralized, we have more kids riding the bus greater distances, meaning a lot more exposure. Biodiesel burns relatively cleanly, and as you have probably heard, smells like French fries. For the health and well being of our children, please, let’s switch to cleaner fuel.

Right now, school districts in New Jersey, Virginia, Arkansas, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan have buses running on biodiesel. You can find out more about them, and further information, including a list of producers all over the United States, at biodiesel.org .

Turning away from our dependence on fossil fuels is inevitable; shouldn’t we as a community take the initiative in planning a healthy environment for our children and grandchildren?

Thank you for taking the time to consider this issue.

(Carolyn Crosen lives in Cochecton Center, NY, and has a son in the Sullivan West Central School District.)