'Clean Air for Children' Advocate Supports EPA Plans to Monitor Schools

DALLAS, March 9 -- One of the attorneys who negotiated an agreement with California's largest school bus operator to reduce potentially harmful diesel exhaust from its school buses is now speaking out on the risk of dangerous levels of air pollution that exist around the nation's schools. Laura Baughman of Dallas-based Baron & Budd, P.C. released this statement following reports that the EPA will be monitoring air quality at 50 to 100 schools in the coming months:

"Many of the schools in America's most depressed regions are located near factories and highways that spew out toxic levels of air pollution," said Baughman. "The respiratory health of the children who attend these schools has been jeopardized and it's high time the EPA investigated and enacted measures to protect them."

In 2008, Baughman represented a group of environmental organizations in a lawsuit against school bus provider Laidlaw Transit, Inc., which agreed to invest millions in retrofitting older buses and purchasing new buses for its California fleet to reduce diesel exhaust. Baughman has represented families and communities exposed to mercury, lead, chromium, dioxin, diesel engine exhaust, PCBs, TCE, and to water contaminated with MTBE, benzene and toluene. In addition to a law degree, Baughman holds a masters degree in engineering.

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

For more than 30 years, the law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C. has championed the rights of people and communities harmed by corporate misconduct. With approximately 50 attorneys and offices in California, Texas and Louisiana, Baron & Budd enjoys a national reputation as a leader of the plaintiffs' bar, having been repeatedly recognized by the NLJ's Plaintiffs' Hot List. The firm represents individuals with mesothelioma and other diseases caused by exposure to asbestos and other toxic substances; water authorities seeking clean-up costs for drinking water contamination; government entities and whistleblowers fighting corporate fraud through Qui Tam and False Claims Act cases; securities investors defrauded by corporate wrongdoing; and consumers in class actions and insurance coverage litigation.