WASHINGTON — As part of its ongoing effort to replace diesel-fueled school buses, the Biden administration today (Wednesday), said it will provide about 530 school districts across nearly all states with almost $1 billion to help them purchase clean school buses. The initiative, part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program rebate competition, will give funds to school districts in 47 states and the District of Columbia to help them buy over 3,400 clean school buses. Alaska, Hawaii and Nevada are not part of this round of funding.
In Iowa, seven school districts requested a total of just over $3.17 million to replace a total of 18 buses, according to the White House. Locally, the Tri-Center Community School District is receiving $820,000 towards the purchase of four electric school buses.
Nearly all of the clean school buses purchased will be electric, at 92%, according to the administration. Low-income, rural and tribal communities — accounting for about 45% of the selected projects — are slated to receive roughly 67% of the total funding, per the administration. The Clean School Bus Program has now collectively awarded nearly $3 billion to fund about 8,500 electric and alternative fuel buses for over 1,000 communities across the United States, according to the administration.
The program started through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, which includes $5 billion over five years to transform the country’s existing school buses with “zero-emission and low-emission models,” per the EPA. Among many negative health and environmental effects, especially for communities of color, diesel exhaust exposure can lead to major health conditions such as asthma and respiratory illnesses, according to the EPA.
Exposure to diesel exhaust can also “worsen existing heart and lung disease, especially in children and the elderly,” the agency said.
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