3 La. parishes will tap into EPA’s $1B for electric and low-emission school buses

By Ariana Figueroa
Contributing Writer

(States Newsroom) — Three Louisiana parishes will receive federal money to cover the purchase of 234 electric and low-emission school buses. It’s part of a Biden administration plan announced Monday (Jan. 8) to spend $1 billion for more than 2,700 such buses across 37 states.

This is a second part of funding of a $5 billion, five-year initiative from the bipartisan infrastructure law. In total, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program has awarded nearly $2 billion and funded approximately 5,000 electric and low-emission school buses nationwide.

On a call with reporters, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said that many school buses “rely on internal combustion engines that emit toxic pollution in to the air.”

“Not only are these pollutants harmful to the environment, but they can also be harmful to the health and well-being of every student, every bus driver and every resident in surrounding communities,” he continued.

East Baton Rouge and Morehouse parishes will each receive $38.1 million, and both districts will purchase 97 buses. Jefferson Parish will get $15.7 million to buy 40 buses.

Out of the total 2,737 school buses, 95 percent will be electric, the White House said. There are roughly half a million school buses across the U.S. used by public schools. A recent Office of Inspector General’s report found that EPA’s Clean Bus Program could be delayed by local utility companies trying to meet demand for electric school buses.

The report found that because “EPA’s 2022 rebate application did not require applicants to coordinate with their utility companies before applying for rebates the Agency may be unable to effectively manage and achieve the program mission unless utility companies can meet increasing power supply demands for electric school buses.”

In response to that report, Regan said that he is in contact with electric utilities across the country and “they’re excited about (electric vehicles) period, whether it be school buses, whether it be transit or whether it be cars and trucks.”

“I have no doubt that our electricity system can handle this transition,” he said.

Regan said that low-income public school districts and tribal communities make up about 86 percent of the projects selected to receive funding. Some of those funding mechanisms include grants, rebates and contracts.

Along with Louisiana, states that were given multiple awards for clean energy school buses include Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington state, among others.

This article originally published in the January 15, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.