Title
Authorizing the Council Committee on the Environment to conduct hearings on the feasibility and desirability of mandating the use of biofuels in the City's fleet of cars and trucks and in school buses operated by the Philadelphia School District.
Body
WHEREAS, Diesel vehicles comprise only 2% of on-road vehicles yet contribute 40% of nitrogen oxide emissions and 63% of particulate matter in Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia ranked 5th worst in the nation for greatest public health risk associated with air toxics; and
WHEREAS, In 1912, Rudolf Diesel said, "The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time"; and
WHEREAS, Pollution from diesel school buses has health implications for everyone, especially the children inside them. In 2002 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a health assessment of diesel engine exhaust. The assessment concluded that long term inhalation exposure is likely to pose a lung cancer hazard, and other lung damage. Also, there is evidence that diesel exhaust inhalation exacerbates existing allergies, bronchitis, and asthma symptoms because of its significant levels of particulate matter. Studies also show that children riding in school buses are subject to "self-pollution", which occurs when diesel exhaust enters the passenger cabin and becomes trapped and concentrated. Children are more susceptible to the particulate matter (and subsequent health risks) than healthy adults because children breathe faster, and their respiratory systems are not fully developed; and
WHEREAS, Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning, renewable fuel made from animal fats or vegetable oils, and alcohol. The fuel properties of biodiesel are very similar to those of petroleum diesel and biodiesel has the potential for replacing petroleum diesel in many applications without the need for retrofit. Biod...
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