Joe Biden Environmental Protection Agency issues $900 million to US schools for clean-energy buses

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, appoints the head of the federal agency called the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which attempts to reduce pollution to improve your health and the environment. This agency head (Michael S. Regan) has approved the disbursement of $900 million in funding to school districts across the country to buy buses that run on clean energy instead of filthy diesel engines that give your children asthma, hurt the environment, and smell terrible.

This is possible due to funding from the 2021 Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) that Joe Biden campaigned on and signed.

scroll_lock says "THUMBS UP " because diesel engines are inefficient, expensive to maintain, loud, annoying, gross, smelly, and bad for the earth.

These rebates will help school districts purchase over 3,400 clean school buses—92% of which will be electric— to accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles and produce cleaner air in and around schools and communities. Under the Program's multiple grant and rebate funding opportunities to date, the EPA has awarded almost $3 billion to fund approximately 8,500 school bus replacements at over 1,000 schools.

There are about 500,000 school buses nationwide so this is... a start (1.7% of all buses). Buses are expensive. I assume (the press release doesn't specify) that some of this funding is going toward setting up charging infrastructure, and once that's set up, it's a lot cheaper to operate electric buses, and future acquisitions will be cheaper. But this is certainly a high upfront cost.

The selections announced today will provide funds to school districts in 47 states and Washington D.C., along with several federally recognized Tribes and U.S. territories. Prioritized school districts in low-income, rural and Tribal communities make up approximately 45 percent of the selected projects and will receive approximately 67 percent of the total funding. The program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.

Good.

The EPA will offer another $932 million on clean buses through this program in 2024.