Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
Inflation Reduction Act funding will support investments in zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, charging infrastructure, and workforce development
Washington, DC – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a nearly $1 billion heavy-duty grant program. Funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), at least $400 million of the grant will be allocated to projects in communities in air quality nonattainment areas.
Eligible applicants for the grants include States, municipalities (including school districts), Indian Tribes, territories, and nonprofit school transportation associations.
Fossil fuel trucks and buses are a leading source of deadly air pollution and also have an outsized impact on the climate crisis. Students are exposed to dirty diesel exhaust every day during their commutes to school. Trucks that support our nation’s freight industry are a major source of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, smog-forming pollution, particulate matter, and air toxics.
In response to the heavy-duty funding announcement, Sierra Club Director of the Clean Transportation for All campaign Katherine García released the following statement:
“Cleaner heavy-duty vehicles means cleaner air for so many. The Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to electrifying our largest vehicles–our school buses, transit buses, garbage trucks, semi-trucks, and others– will make a tangible difference for kids, school bus drivers, truck drivers, and communities living closest to highly-trafficked roads and highways. The Sierra Club appreciates the EPA’s dedicated focus on communities suffering most from air quality issues – they should be the first in line to reap the benefits of the transition to clean energy and cleaner vehicles in their neighborhoods.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.