Hartford School Bus Retrofits
Fact Sheet
• In Hartford 17% of children
suffer from asthma; this is more than twice the national average
• Diesel exhaust can cause cancer, asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases
because it contains more then 40 different toxins
• Diesel pollution is concentrated more in urban areas because of the high
traffic density
• All the buses in the Hartford school district are powered by diesel fuel
• Children are more sensitive to air pollution because they breathe 50% more air
per pound of body weight than adults
• Tests have shown that diesel emissions are much higher inside the bus cabin
than outside the bus
• In 2004, the Connecticut
Attorney General reached a $1 million settlement agreement with a Virginia Power
Company to retrofit the school buses in Hartford and Bridgeport to reduce diesel
exhaust pollution
• The retrofits would add equipment that will reduce diesel emissions by 50-90%
and prevent harmful particulate pollution from entering the school bus cabins
• Because the City of Hartford has NOT begun to retrofit the school buses it
might lose the settlement money
We Need
Action!
The Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice urges you to call Mayor
Perez at 860-543-8500 and tell him to retrofit the school buses to reduce
pollution NOW for the health of our children