Harris to announce initial clean bus grants for 389 school districts from infrastructure bill

Vice President Harris and EPA Administrator Michael Regan will visit Seattle on Wednesday to tout the first installment of cleaner school buses that will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

The first $1 billion of a $5 billion total will go to support 2,468 new school buses in all 50 states, as well as D.C., territories and tribal institutions.

 Nearly all — 95 percent — of these buses will be electric. The rest will be powered by natural gas or propane. The buses will serve 389 school districts. 

Yet they represent only a small fraction of the country’s fleet of approximately 500,000 school buses. 

A White House fact sheet noted that buses that run on diesel, rather than electricity, produce pollution that can worsen lung problems like asthma. 

In a statement, Regan celebrated the clean school bus program as a way to cut down on this pollution. 

“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,” he said.