How to blow a million bucks
During a dire fiscal crisis, Muni threw away state funding for cleaner buses

By A.C. Thompson

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is not known as a heavy-handed government agency. In fact, the regional body, which is charged with enforcing clean-air laws, has been criticized in recent years by both environmentalists and the federal government for being soft on polluters.

Despite the agency's generally easygoing nature, San Francisco's Muni transit system has managed to annoy air district staffers in a fairly major way, a feat that cost Muni roughly a million bucks last year and could end up costing another $910,000 in the near future.

Here's the deal: In 2002 the air district awarded Muni $992,664 in grants to reduce the health-threatening diesel emissions of its bus fleet. One grant would've paid to retrofit filth-spewing diesel buses with emissions traps, and the other would've gone to build a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station for low-emissions buses.

But documents obtained by the Bay Guardian indicate the air district quietly yanked the funding last spring, adding to Muni's money woes.

The air district sent Muni officials a "notice of termination" in May 2003 saying the transit system had lagged so badly in purchasing the emissions-curbing equipment that "we are not confident that the retrofit of the buses will be completed" in a timely fashion. Around the same time the air district pulled the grant for the natural-gas fueling station, apparently because Muni couldn't get its act together.

Despite the fact that Muni applied for these grants, Muni spokesperson Maggie Lynch told us the agency has concluded that CNG just isn't a reliable, efficient fuel source in this hilly city. "The bottom line," she said, "is CNG just doesn't work for us."

But this million-dollar snafu offends enviros, who've spent at least five years lobbying Muni to replace its diesel buses with air-friendly alt-fuel vehicles.

"At a time when Muni has just raised fares and is saying that a lack of money is keeping them from cleaning up their fleet, this exposes their true priorities," said Jon Golinger, campaign manager for Proposition I, a measure on the March ballot that would force Muni to buy cleaner buses. According to Golinger, Muni is missing out on "literally millions in state and federal funds" for clean-air projects.

For many greens, diesel represents the next major environmental battle. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 linked diesel exhaust to "increased lung cancer risk" and serious lung damage, echoing the findings of many other scientists. Plus, the fuel is a key contributor to global warming.

In an interview, air district spokesperson Lucia Libretti confirmed that Muni had forfeited the grant money.

During the spring of 2003, the air district sent Muni a letter saying the transit system's "eligibility" for future funding was in question because Muni was "overdue" in meeting the requirements of grants it had already won.

"That kind of letter is a reminder to get on the stick: 'You applied for the funding, now follow through,' " Libretti said.

Muni may indeed lose more funding. In 2002 the transportation system applied for, and got, $910,000 to be spent on 15 natural gas or diesel-hybrid buses. Libretti said Muni decided to use the money on diesel hybrids, which belch less crap than older diesel buses, but has repeatedly blown deadlines for the grant. The air district wants the buses running by 2005; Muni says they won't be online until 2007.

Because of the deadline problems, Libretti explained, the grant money "may be in jeopardy," adding, "If they'd just bought CNG buses, they'd have them by now." But she was quick to add that no decision about withdrawing funding had been made and said Muni wasn't the only Bay Area transit agency having trouble fulfilling its contractual obligations.

None of this worries Muni. Lynch said Muni decided it has no interest in CNG infrastructure or CNG vehicles because, according to in-house studies, natural gas buses break down far more frequently than their diesel counterparts and aren't good at handling steep hills. The transit system has "a responsibility to purchase reliable equipment," she said. "To build a facility for a fuel we don't use would be irresponsible."

Golinger disputed the claim that natural gas is unreliable, noting that it's used in 30 California cities. "There are dozens of studies and several test cases showing natural gas buses work under the most adverse circumstances."

The grant for retrofitting diesel buses, Lynch argued, was killed by the failure of state agencies to approve the technology favored by Muni, but the transit agency has applied for $700,000 in new funding for the same purpose. She also noted that Muni has reduced emissions on its buses by 88 percent since 1997 and has never been out of compliance with state or federal air pollution standards.

That may be true. However, in the eyes of the EPA, the entire Bay Area is suffering from unhealthy levels of atmospheric filth – which prompted the federal government to hold up transportation funds in 2001 – and diesel is a major part of the problem.

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