Biden Administration Takes Strong Step In Electrifying America’s School Buses And Safeguarding Children’s Health

In response to the Biden administration’s announcement today of $500 million being made available for clean school buses through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Evergreen Action Co-Founder and Senior Advisor Sam Ricketts released the following statement:

“State and local government leaders will play a critical role in implementing new federal clean energy investments. Today’s announcement by the Biden administration of $500 million in electric school bus funding is a strong early action to distribute the critical federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to states and communities, while also taking the President one step closer to meeting his Justice40 Commitments. 

“These investments will open the door for school districts across the U.S. to pursue funding that improves children’s health by cutting pollution, while simultaneously saving school districts money that can be reinvested in schools. We know that asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia are all byproducts of tailpipe pollution. We also know that this pollution repeatedly hits Black, Brown, Indigenous, and frontline communities first and worst. It’s imperative that this funding be utilized to the fullest extent possible in reducing pollution, ensuring that school buses run on clean energy and not polluting fossil fuels. By electrifying America’s school bus fleet communities can keep children healthy and ready to learn, and can safeguard the kids that are most at-risk.”

###