(RepublicanView.org) – The Biden administration is providing $900 million to improve school buses across the country and make them more environmentally friendly. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through the Clean School Bus Program, has chosen around 530 school districts for extra funding to replace diesel-powered vehicles with electric buses.
An EPA press release notes that districts in 47 states, along with a number of tribes and other territories, will receive the grant. Almost half of the $900 million will be given to low-income and rural areas.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said the intention is to overhaul the nation’s bus fleets to protect children, provide them with cleaner air, save money, and provide a boost for manufacturing in the US.
The latest move is one of a series of EPA initiatives, including one last year that created a $500 million rebate scheme and a $1 billion investment in improving air quality around schools. The Clean School Bus Program has also already funded around $3 billion in school bus replacements across the US.
The federal agency states that diesel air pollution is directly connected to respiratory illnesses in children, including asthma, which accounts for high school absence figures and low academic performance.
The new school bus scheme comes as the administration pushes plans to transform American vehicles. Back in March, President Joe Biden announced the administration’s strictest emissions regulations to date. The federal government has set a target to make 56% of US vehicles electric by 2032 and remove seven billion tonnes of carbon emissions from the atmosphere. Car manufacturers who do not implement the requirements will be fined.
While electric car purchases have increased in the US recently, the uptake remains low. In 2023, sales reportedly reached 1,119,251 – a jump from 760,329 the previous year. The overall figure of EVs on the road, however, accounts for only around 1% of the vehicles in the US at this point.
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