2) Develop a set of clear arguments to use when writing or talking to school district officials. Use links below or others from the BBC website to help develop your main points. Note especially the article from the St. Johns school district where they show that they’ve been saving money using biodiesel. Also see the report “No Breathing in the Aisles” to develop the health arguments. See BBC sample letter as a general guide.

3) Write or call members of your local school board to generate support for the idea. You’ll need someone in power who believes this is the right thing to do and who is willing to push the issue (with your guidance).

4) Find out who the transportation manager for your district is, and call them to discuss the issue. Gently explore whether he is familiar with biodiesel and some of its advantages: less polluting, cleaner and less smelly for his mechanics (thus fewer health problems, doesn't’t crack skin, less smelly bus sheds, cleaner buses), less wear and tear on engines thus less frequent oil changes, saving on oil and oil filters. Mostly, try to gauge his interest (or resistance) to the idea. Tell them you’d like some information to help figure out what it would take to incorporate biodiesel into their fueling.
Find out:
a. Are they using ultra-low-sulfur diesel and/or getting pollution control devices put on their buses? (These are oxidative catalysts and particulate traps, which only work with low-sulfur fuel, including biodiesel).
b. How many buses do they use every day, how many miles do they each go, and what is their average mileage (usually 7-8 mpg). With this information you can calculate how many gallons of fuel they use.
c. How much fuel do they use (per day, week, or month)? See if that jives with the number you calculated above.
d. Do they take bulk delivery of their fuel? If so, how often, and how many gallons do they take each delivery? How big is their bulk tank?
e. If they don’t take bulk delivery, they may use “fleet fueling” where the petroleum supplier fuels the buses. Ask how that works, what their schedule is, etc.

5) Decide what percentage of biodiesel you’d like to have the district use. The standard for fleets is B20, which offers good pollution control benefits for the least price, and may be the best initial goal. Intercity Transit in Olympia is using B40 in their buses, but they started with B20. With the high price of petrodiesel and the federal tax credit for biodiesel (1 penny per percentage of biodiesel), the price differential may become very small or non-existant, which will certainly help convince districts to take the leap.

6) Contact fleet managers of fleets or school districts who are using biodiesel: Randy Winders of Intercity Transit: (360) 786-8585; Steve Hennessey of City of Tacoma: (253) 591-5553; Gene Marsh of Central Valley School District in Spokane :(509) 228-5400. Ask for details on how they achieved their transition to biodiesel, and what the impact has been; ask especially whether they’ve been able to show cost savings since starting to use biodiesel.

7) Contact Vince McBroom (253) 606-2454, who is with Pacific NW Energy Co. which has been supplying biodiesel to fleets. He has expressed a willingness to answer questions anyone has about fleet use of biodiesel.

8) Contact Dave Kircher (206) 689-4050 of Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. He has been guiding the agency’s advocacy of biodiesel in fleets, and the agency has also helped school districts retrofit their buses with the oxidative catalysts and particulate traps. The agency has some funding available for the use of biodiesel in school buses. Their first priority has been to get the districts to use ULSD and to retrofit the buses with the pollution control equipment. But this is a long and expensive process (about $8000 per bus), and the argument needs to be raised that biodiesel can clean up the buses immediately. Biodiesel also reduces greenhouse gases, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and models a sustainable solution to the oil crisis.

9) If members of the school board and other district officials are showing interest, put together a training session for them on biodiesel. Contact the BBC for help arranging such a session. You can invite one of the fleet managers from a fleet which has experience using biodiesel, and other experts who can speak to the health and environmental benefits.

10) Generate support for your cause in your community, by speaking to PTA groups, student groups, principal of your local school, parents, bus drivers, and city officials. Build so much support that the district can’t say no!