Win for Clean Air: New Jersey Groups Celebrate EPA $19 Million Grant for More Than 40 Clean Electric School Buses

Trenton – Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the 2023 recipients of nearly $1 billion in Clean School Bus Program grants, funded from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The EPA has awarded clean school buses to over 67 applicants, including 42 clean buses headed directly to 5 New Jersey school districts. Winning districts include Bloomfield Township School District, Newark Public School District, Elizabeth Public Schools, Union City, and Lakewood Township School District.

The Clean School Bus Program is investing billions of dollars into replacing dirty diesel and propane school buses with clean electric alternatives. The pollutants from fossil fuel buses exacerbate the climate crisis and worsen air pollution, which negatively impact the health of our students, staff, and drivers who are exposed daily on their ride to school. Electric school buses produce zero tailpipe emissions, resulting in better air quality, further safeguarding our most vulnerable populations from air toxics and advancing environmental justice. The Grant announced yesterday will make electric buses more accessible to New Jerseyans and provide our students with a safer ride to school.

The New Jersey Sierra Club, Environment New Jersey, and the NJ Clean Cities Coalition released the following joint statement in response to the EPA grants:

“Yesterday’s announcement of the EPA Clean School Bus Program funding is fantastic news for New Jersey students and school communities overall. The New Jersey Sierra Club celebrates these awards, and we are excited to see the transition to a cleaner electric school fleet become a reality. Thanks to these grants, more New Jersey students will be able to ride to school without breathing in dirty diesel fumes,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are also glad to see a combination of suburban and urban districts receive these awards adding to the previously awarded rural school district of Bridgeton, NJ. We now have accessible electric school buses across the state regardless of geography and population. Thank you to the EPA and Biden Administration for prioritizing our student’s health, as there is no excuse for unsafe rides to school.”

“The NJ Clean Cities Coalition has been providing forums for showcasing electric school buses across the state for the past few years and we believe it is extremely important that people realize that these vehicles are here and available now.  While we must increase our efforts to decarbonize transportation across the board, deploying zero emission school buses to carry our most precious cargo is a critical area for all of us to focus on.  We applaud the districts for applying for, and EPA for awarding, this funding and look forward to working with our partners to secure additional funding from the federal and state governments to effectively and efficiently deploy these and many more buses,” said Chuck Feinberg, Executive Director NJ Clean Cities Coalition.

“This is a huge win for the lungs of New Jersey kids from Newark to Lakewood to use federal funds from the EPA to electrify our school bus fleet so that we can finally dump dirty diesel fumes,” said Doug O’Malley, Director of Environment New Jersey. “This generation of kids should be the last generation that gets a toxic daily dose of diesel fumes on the way to school. This investment of more than 40 electric school buses can be a downpayment to accelerate the rollout of more electric school buses across districts. We thank the EPA and President Biden for the vision to include school bus electrification as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and for ensuring communities with more air pollution received more electric school bus funding this year.”

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