The money was awarded to a third-party transportation company, Van-Con Inc., to purchase a total of 42 buses and 28 bus chargers for Newark, Elizabeth, Union City, Bloomfield Township and Lakewood Township school districts, according to a recent news release.
“Today’s funding means cleaner air and less pollution, which equals healthier kids,” EPA Chief of Staff Olivia Glenn said in a public statement. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’ll breathe easier in New Jersey having these quiet, tailpipe-less school buses carrying our kids to and from school and other activities. Making our neighborhoods cleaner and better places to live is how we advance environmental justice and is what investing in America is all about.”
Gov. Murphy applauded the grant as a measure that will protect school children from pollutants “and give them the best chance to succeed.”
“Together, we are building momentum in the transition to zero-emission vehicles that will help us deliver on our promise to mitigate the disproportionate health impacts of medium and heavy-duty vehicles, especially in New Jersey's most overburdened communities,” Murphy said in a public statement.
The expected delivery date of the buses was not disclosed.
All told, the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program will provide $5 billion to districts or third parties through 2026 to replace diesel, propane or gasoline-powered buses with zero-emission vehicles. Air pollution from older vehicles has been linked to childhood asthma and other illnesses that cause students to miss school.
The grant application period for the 2023 funding round closed in August. The pot of available money was initially set at $400 million, but due to overwhelming demand in lower-income and tribal communities, the amount was boosted to $965 million, according to the news release.
According to an EPA program report issued to Congress earlier this month, as of January 2024, the federal agency has so far awarded $1.84 billion to pay for 5,103 clean school buses (96 percent of which are electric) and charging equipment in 642 school districts. This includes most states and U.S. territories, and schools run by federally recognized tribes. All but 40 of those recipients are considered lower income and/or tribal in accordance with the program criteria.
The Toledo (Ohio) City School District was among the few recipients to spend its $750,000 grant on 25 new propane buses, rather than electric, though the propane buses are still quieter, more efficient and cleaner than the old diesel vehicles, according to the report.
Wyoming remains the only state that has not participated in the program. Two districts there were awarded grants last year but gave the money back after school transportation officials determined that the coldest winter temperatures in the area were beyond the threshold of electric chargers.
The Clean School Bus Program encountered another setback in December after a report from the U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) noted that for the 2022 grant cycle, some school districts declined funding because they did not know a third-party contractor had applied for it on their behalf. The EPA then redirected $38 million from canceled applications to others on the waiting list. The EPA was not sanctioned, but the OIG is asking the agency to bolster oversight of third-party contractors acting on behalf of school districts.
