Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
Washington, D.C. - Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 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 across 27 states, three Tribal Nations, and one territory.
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.
Many Sierra Club chapters were involved in advocating for their local school districts, cities, municipalities, and states to apply for this funding.
In response to today’s EPA announcement, Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, released the following statement:
“We are thrilled to see these 70 recipients receive this critical funding to invest in thousands of electric trucks and buses across the nation. Electrifying our biggest vehicles will deliver clean air to our communities and support the workers driving this important progress. All too often, young people 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 the health of Americans, especially our most vulnerable.”
Background on electric school buses:
- Every day, millions of schoolchildren ride in a dirty diesel bus 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.