SAN FRANCISCO -- The controversy over possible carcinogenic effects of diesel exhaust took a new twist on February 13 when environmentalists filed a 60-day "Proposition 65" notice against a dozen school bus manufacturers, dealer/distributors and contractors operating in California. It was the second action against school transporters by environmentalists in less than a week.

The action was initiated by As You Sow (AYS), an activist, non-profit organization dedicated to environmental protection, promotion of human health, improvement of worker and consumer safety, and corporate accountability. It initiates actions against corporations for alleged violations of the toxic labeling requirements of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly known as Proposition 65.

The notice was sent to 12 school bus manufacturers, distributors and OEM's operating in California: AZ Bus Sales, California Bus Sales, Durham Transportation, Laidlaw, Blue Bird Corp. Collins Bus Corp., Forsythe & Assoc., Inc., Allied Bus Sales of Nixa, Mo., Michael's Transportation, Thomas Built Buses, Ambassador Bus Sales, and First Group America, Inc.

The notice letter alleges these companies are in violation of the warning requirements of Proposition 65 by "distributing and/or selling and/or manufacturing and/or operating School Buses that expose consumers and particularly children .along with other individuals in California to Diesel Exhaust." The penalty for Prop 65 violations can range as high as $2,500 per violation per day.

Prop 65 regulates more than 550 chemicals that have been listed as potentially carcinogenic. In its notice to the school bus industry, AYS identified 21 chemicals including 17 carcinogens and four reproductive toxins as a "chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity" produced by diesel exhaust.

The notice does not name any school district in the state or other bus operators because governmental entities, including school districts and public transit agencies, are exempt from Prop 65 warning requirements. "We hope the companies will retrofit existing (school bus) fleets to reduce diesel exposure particularly inside the bus, and to purchase fleets that either cause no exposures or substantially reduce the exposures," said Shawn Khorrami, the lead attorney for As You Sow.

Khorrami said the National Resource Defense Council and the Coalition for Clean Air, the same environmental organizations that published a report a few days earlier alleging that diesel exhaust inside school buses is highly toxic, collaborated in this development. These two actions "are not necessarily related" said Khorrami.

"There have been lot of issues involving diesel fleets" for years, he said. "The original attack by a private environmental group was against a diesel engine manufacturer, but it failed because no one individual vehicle could be singled out as causing enough exposure to any one individual. The focus shortly after that turned to fleet operators." He said that in 1998, environmentalists, with the assistance of the California attorney general, successfully prosecuted four diesel-powered grocery fleets in California under a Prop 65 action. The action against the California school bus industry is a continuation of the effort against diesel-powered vehicles.

Khorrami said, "School bus fleets tend to be quite a bit antiquated. They seem to be older than other fleets. It seems like operators are not buying buses as fast as other segments of the bus industry. There should be more aggressive retirement of older fleets with newer fleets," he said.

When asked if buses manufactured before enactment of Prop 65 and still in service, are subject to the warning requirements of Prop 65, he said, "If a bus was bought in 1980 then the manufacturer and distributor are responsible for that bus even prior to Prop 65 in 1991."

How many vehicles that affects in California is unknown. An estimated eight-percent of the 21,000 school buses in California were manufactured prior to 1977, and an unknown number prior to 1991. Only 16 percent of California's K-12 student population ride school buses daily.

Since its founding in 1992, AYS has taken on giants of American industry such as Coca-Cola, DuPont, Sysco, Monsanto, Kellogg, Safeway, Citigroup, Home Depot and others. Its web site at www.asyousow.org claims that AYS "has forced more than 300 companies to comply with Proposition 65's labeling requirements over the past six years, garnering nearly $1 million in penalties and restitution awards from these companies. These funds are then granted to other environmental organizations working in the areas of toxic reduction, worker safety, education and activism.

Copies of the 60-day notice were sent to the California attorney general office, the city attorney in three California cities of more than 750,000 population and the district attorney in 58 counties statewide. Under Prop 65 any of these prosecutors can initiate legal action against the named parties after 60 days notification. Khorrami said he expects lawsuits to be filed within two months.