Bianca Sanchez, bianca.sanchez@sierraclub.org
BOSTON, MA. - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced 70 grant recipients for its Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Program to receive funding for over 2,400 zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles. The awards will go to fund projects in 27 states, three Tribal Nations, and one territory. This includes a total of $82M for Massachusetts, including electric school bus funding amounting to $50M for Boston, $10M for Springfield, $7M for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional District, and $4M for Hingham. Together, these grants will fund 177 new school buses in Massachusetts and 28 new clean heavy-duty vehicles for the State administration.
The Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Program was established through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022. The Program will distribute a total of $1 billion through 2032 to replace fossil fuel heavy-duty vehicles (such as school buses, garbage trucks, transit buses, and more) with zero-emission ones, as well as support the build-out of charging infrastructure and invest in the workforce.
Approximately 70 percent of the selections announced today will support the purchase of clean school buses.
The program prioritizes communities with the worst air quality in the country by earmarking $400 million towards these areas, emphasizing environmental justice in the shift to cleaner transportation. This investment is complementary to other clean transportation programs funded by the IRA and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), such as the Clean School Bus Program, and can complement future state funding.
Sierra Club Massachusetts has supported advocates and town officials across the state to apply for this funding through information sessions and letter-writing campaigns. The chapter urges communities to apply for the fourth and final round of Clean School Bus Program funding, open through January 9, 2025.
In response to the EPA announcement, Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter Director Vick Mohanka released the following statement:
“We are thrilled that Massachusetts received this critical funding to invest in electric trucks and buses. This proven technology for our biggest vehicles will deliver clean air to communities and support workers driving this important progress. All too often, young people, especially in underserved communities, are exposed to air toxics from diesel-spewing school buses and trucks and burdened by respiratory illnesses from this daily exposure. Shifting to cleaner heavy-duty vehicles is a common sense example of how we can improve health. Massachusetts must continue tightening the standards for new heavy duty vehicles so that clean air and clean transportation eventually become the norm, not the exception.”
Background on electric school buses:
- Every day, millions of schoolchildren ride in dirty diesel buses to get between their homes and schools. Research has shown that this frequent exposure can cause kids to miss school and impact their learning. Diesel exhaust is a known carcinogen and can cause or worsen respiratory illnesses like asthma, and kids are especially vulnerable to these health impacts due to their developing lungs.
- The Sierra Club is a founding member of the Alliance for Electric School Buses (AESB), a national network of advocates working to advance school bus electrification so that every child in the U.S. has a clean commute to school. The AESB is working to ensure that the 25 million children who take a school bus each day get there on an electric school bus, starting with the communities most harmed by air pollution.
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.