[csusbpeace] EPA gives school districts across U.S. nearly $1 billion to buy clean school buses
- From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("bigraccoon1")
- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2022 12:15:51 -0700
https://www.nationofchange.org/2022/10/31/epa-gives-school-districts-across-u-s-nearly-1-billion-to-buy-clean-school-buses/
EPA gives school districts across U.S. nearly $1 billion to buy clean school
buses
October 31, 2022
<https://i0.wp.com/www.nationofchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/electric-school-bus.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1>
Stepping onto a yellow school bus for the first time is one of the most
iconic rights-of-passage in a U.S. childhood. But it turns out these buses
aren’t as wholesome as their bright color and rounded roofs suggest.
In fact, most school buses
<https://nexusmedianews.com/top_story/infrastructure-bill-signed-into-law/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=231458490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8WoKSP07BaQLgR-IxhlUW0rJz8Ey9J9sufz4MGkxv8i4C9oWfnQyLRXnPmmXyytb-w9LDdbUw2iYYU-snay3lFd24hYA&utm_content=231458490&utm_source=hs_email>
run on diesel
<https://www.ecowatch.com/diesel-cars-emissions-2575694900.html> and, when
children stand in their shadow, they are likely breathing in the most
polluted air they will inhale during a day, as Nexus Media News pointed out.
That’s part of the reason why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
<https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-1-billion-epas-clean-school-bus-program>
(EPA) is giving out almost $1 billion to help school districts in every
state plus Washington, DC and several tribes and U.S. territories purchase
more than 2,400 clean school buses, as the agency announced in a press
release. The other reason, of course, is to give children a future less
marred by the impacts of the climate crisis
<https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-guide-2652755448.html>.
“We are witnessing around our country and around the world the effects of
extreme climate,” Vice President Kamala Harris
<https://apnews.com/article/business-kamala-harris-seattle-washington-pollution-16405c66d405103374d6f78db6ed2a04?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=231458490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9se_1Dha8W7vPw84CBhNk6XMK0K-hhw12qkvSkdKZPm3KvhtlQdudgf-NdS9-SqzX-LBY29hyTL9nZ5x7BKmzJKJ3QWg&utm_content=231458490&utm_source=hs_email>
said when she announced the grants in Seattle Wednesday with EPA
Administrator Michael Regan, as AP News reported. “What we’re announcing
today is a step forward in our nation’s commitment to reduce greenhouse
gases, to invest in our economy… to invest in building the skills of
America’s workforce. All with the goal of not only saving our children, but
for them, saving our planet.″
The funding for the new buses comes from the approximately $1 trillion
bipartisan infrastructure
<https://www.ecowatch.com/biden-infrastructure-bill-2655745743.html> bill
President Joe Biden signed nearly a year ago, as Nexus Media News reported at
the time. The bill provided $5 billion for hybrid and electric
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/26/fact-sheet-progress-on-biden-harris-action-plan-for-building-better-school-infrastructure/>
buses to be distributed over a period of five years, according to a White
House Fact Sheet. The first installment of these funds will go to purchase
2,463 buses and 95 percent of them will be electric vehicles
<https://www.ecowatch.com/electric-vehicles-guide-2655917104.html>.
“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,” Regan said in the EPA press
release. “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.”
The EPA was originally going to distribute only $500 million during the first
round of applications for its rebate program. But when applications opened in
May, there was so much demand that the EPA nearly doubled the available
awards to $965 million. A total of 389 school districts received the grants.
This is only the beginning, as there are around 500,000 school buses
<https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3704194-harris-to-announce-initial-clean-bus-grants-for-389-school-districts-from-infrastructure-bill/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=231458490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_oZOv55-u4xIzSbXg3FJGejytr1zuP5sGew_48eF4_TVcGKrpAkcLZw7oD5UK0bd9YkzNGD2epHd4ythWjwkgjBvsrLg&utm_content=231458490&utm_source=hs_email>
in the nation’s fleet, The Hill reported. Most of these are diesel, which
produces particulate matter pollution that can harm children’s lungs and
worsen respiratory ailments like asthma, the White House noted. Children
exposed to diesel exhaust are also more likely to miss school.
“It doesn’t make sense to send our kids to school on buses that create
brain-harming, lung-harming, cancer-causing, climate-harming pollution,″ Moms
Clean Air Force public health policy director Molly Rauch said, as AP News
reported. “Our kids, our bus drivers and our communities deserve better.″
White House adviser Mitch Landrieu said the new buses would be made in the
U.S. and would mostly be ready by the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year.
Another $1 billion in grants has been written into the budget year beginning
October 1.
<https://www.ecowatch.com/u/oliviarosane>
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