Amplify: Biden Administration Awards Nearly $1 Billion for Clean School Busses

Jan 19

The Infrastructure Act, signed by President Biden in November 2021, followed decades of talk about the need to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure. The Act authorized a once-in-a- generation $1.2 trillion federal investment in railroads, bridges, ports, broadband access, the power grid, clean water – and American workers.

Among the many far-ranging initiatives, the Act authorized an unprecedented $5 billion to create the “EPA Clean School Bus Program” designed to transform the nation’s school buses, by creating fleets of electric, compressed natural gas and propane vehicles that produce zero emissions. The grants are aimed at protecting kids from harmful air pollution while curbing the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet.

This month, the EPA announced the first grants under the Program, totaling nearly $1 billion.

Highlights:

The grants were made to 67 applicants, and will cover the purchase of over 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts serving over 7 million students across 37 states. (See a list of projects and locations here.)
95% of the vehicles funded will be electric.
86% of the projects will be in low-income, rural, and/or Tribal communities, which are disproportionately impacted by pollution from older diesel engines, which has been linked to asthma and other dangerous conditions.
The new buses will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce school district transportation expense, and produce cleaner air both around schools and in the communities through which the buses travel every day. Transitioning to electric school buses nationwide would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.3 million tons per year, according to the non-profit Public Interest Research Group.
These 2024 grants supplement over $875 million in rebates previously given for new buses as part of the Clean School Bus Program’s 2022 Rebates, which funded the replacement of 2,366 buses in 372 school districts.