EXTRA CONTENT: Corbin Schools get grant to help lower bus pollution

Read the entire grant application by clicking here.

The Corbin Independent School District will be doing its part this year to reduce air pollution caused by older busses thanks to a $51,000 federal grant recently awarded the district.

This money will be used to retrofit eight to nine busses with a device that will help them run cleaner by reducing carbon emissions according to Mark Daniels, Corbin Independent Schools Support Services Coordinator. Daniels is in charge of grant proposals for the school system. He applied for this grant three weeks ago and found out the school system received the award last week.

In the grant proposal, Corbin outlines why this program will be helpful to our community specifically.

"Air pollution can cause or aggravate lung illnesses such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In addition to negative health consequences, air pollution imposes economic costs on the school district and community. School buses that are allowed to idle unnecessarily release harmful pollutants that contribute to poor air quality in the region. Unnecessary idling is also a waste of fuel and therefore money. By adopting an idle reduction procedure for the Corbin Independent School District, fuel and money will be conserved and air pollution will be reduced."

According to the Energy Information Administration, fossil fuels supply 85 percent of the primary energy consumed in the United States and are responsible for 98 percent of emissions of carbon dioxide.

And transportation is one of the biggest leaders in carbon dioxide emissions because of its near complete dependence on petroleum fuels. Regulations such as the one on school and public transportation busses are in place to help combat the possible side affects.

The busses that will be fitted with these devices are mid to late 90s models that didn’t meet the requirement for carbon emissions. All busses acquired after 2001 meet this standard.

"This is part of a larger ‘green’ initiative in our school district," Daniels said.

Other steps include a tire disposal partnership with Goodyear, along with a retread program for tires. In addition, there is a partnership between the school district and Wayne Supply Company, to utilize oil from the buses for recycling purposes.

The next step of this process is to except bid for services. The school system has a year to decide how to best spend the funds from the grant.

In the proposal, the school system says it is ready to implement these much-needed services and is excited to execute an expedient and successful project in the best interest of the community.

News of another grant was received last week as well. A grant for $100,000 was awarded to the Corbin School system to support local family literacy through a project called Even Start. The project is designed to integrate early childhood education, adult literacy, parenting education, and interactive parent and child literacy activities for low-income families.
Even Start aims at breaking the cycle of under education being passed down from generation to generation.

"Children are 50 times more likely not to receive their diploma or GED if their parents do not," Daniels said.

The grant will fund a teacher, materials, curriculum and training and will be a year-round project.

For more information, contact Mark Daniels at 606-528-1303.