In 2007 the Board of Education in collaboration with St. Louis City, Grace Hill Settlement House, and the US EPA passed a resolution to make St. Louis Public Schools an idle-free district. This initiative to establish No Idling Zones at all public schools is considered to be the first in the country, setting a national precedent to protect the health and well-being of our children and communities. Because children’s lungs are still developing, they are the most vulnerable to vehicular emissions which have been linked to increased rates of asthma, cancer, and reduced learning capacity.
Education was a vital aspect of this campaign and over the following three years over 900 school bus drivers were trained in idle reduction strategies. Diesel emissions were further reduced through the retrofit and replacement of 730 diesel engines operating in the St. Louis region. This included almost 500 school buses, a tugboat, refuse haulers, vehicles at Lambert Airport, and a number of delivery trucks.
Efforts to raise awareness of air pollution issues continued and through partnership with the St. Louis Board of Alderman, Grace Hill Settlement House was able to reduce the legal allowable idling limit from 10 minutes down to 5 minutes. Beginning in 2010, the partnership expanded to develop the Clean Air Saint Louis initiative in order to improve air quality within the St. Louis region and reduce unnecessary vehicle idling.