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Biden Administration Grants $1 Billion to School Districts to Transition to Electric Schools Buses

Yellow low emissions school bus refueling

The Biden-Harris Administration announced the recipients of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus Program rebate competition and awarded nearly $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to schools across the nation.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/YouTube

The money will go to 389 school districts across 50 states and Washington, DC, and several Tribes and U.S. territories. The grants will allow school districts to purchase over 2,400 clean school buses that will get the country closer to its goal of using zero-emission vehicles.

Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan traveled to Seattle, Washington, to announce the recipients and highlight how it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and even protect children’s health.

“President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is accelerating our nation’s transition to electric and low-emission school buses while ensuring a brighter, healthier future for our children,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “As many as 25 million children rely on the bus to get to school each day. Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, we are making an unprecedented investment in our children’s health, especially those in communities overburdened by air pollution. This is just the beginning of our work to build a healthier future, reduce climate Pollution, and ensure the clean, breathable air that all our children deserve.”

In May, the EPA previously announced $500 million for its Clean School Bus Program, but after receiving an overwhelming response from school districts across the country, the EPA nearly double the amount of funding and will now be giving $965 million.

Through a lottery system, the EPA selected 389 applications which totaled $913 million to Support the purchase of 2,463 buses, 95 percent of which will be electric. School districts that identified as low-income, rural, and, or Tribal students make up 99 percent of the projects that were selected. The agency plans to review more applications to reach the full $965 million in the coming weeks. We hope that this program will help in the fight against climate change while also making our air cleaner and safer!

Air Pollution is an invisible killer and has been linked to so many diseases, including fatty liver disease, depression, and other mental health issues, and a study even found that nearly 6 million babies born prematurely in 2019 were likely linked to air pollution. Eating meat has been linked to a rise in air pollution, and factory farms are one of the biggest to blame for our dirty air. According to the WHO, an estimated 4.2 million people every year are killed by outdoor air Pollution, and 99 percent of the global population breathes air that exceeds WHO guideline limits, with low and middle-income areas disproportionately affected. Check out these eco-artists that are using their art to call attention to the massive problem of air Pollution and sign the petition to demand federal clean-up of disproportionately affected polluted areas in the United States.