CARSON CITY, NV – The Nevada Environmental Commission approved a two-year “variance” that would allow the Clark County School District (CCSD) to use conventional instead of reformulated gasoline for their support fleet vehicles. According to documents from the Commission, CCSD is making the request due to financial hardship.

The request is specifically for gasoline-powered vehicles in the fleet. These vehicles make up 36%, or 976 vehicles out of 2,706, of the assets in the fleet. CCSD stated that it’s dealing with a $40 million budget shortfall, and moving to conventional gasoline for the vehicles mentioned will reduce fuel costs by $107,000 per year. The $107,000 comes from $58,000 in freight charges from two out-of-state locations plus more than $49,000 in the per gallon price difference between the rack price in Barstow, Calif., and Phoenix, Ariz., and the local rack price in Las Vegas.

CCSD said that it is committed to using alternative fuels, as it uses biodiesel in its school bus and recently switched from B5 back to B20. CCSD had switched to B5 to save money, but with B20 costs in the area comparable to B5, the district made the decision to move back.