Fredericksburg Free Press: EPA awards $4.3M for electric school buses

FREDERICKSBURG FREE PRESS

U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $4,290,000 in rebates to help Fredericksburg City Public Schools and Culpeper County Public Schools replace older, diesel-powered school buses with new, electric buses.

This funding is made possible through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program — created by the bipartisan infrastructure law, which Spanberger helped negotiate and voted to pass. The EPA awarded $3,490,000 to Fredericksburg City Public Schools to help purchase 10 electric buses and $800,000 to Culpeper County Public Schools to help purchase four electric buses. The school divisions are two of 530 that received this award nationally — and among the 18 divisions who are receiving these rebates in Virginia.

“Back in 2022, I was proud to see how federal investments delivered through the American Rescue Plan were allowing Culpeper County Public Schools to phase out older school buses with electric buses. Now, I’m proud that investments from the bipartisan infrastructure law will continue to move this transition forward in Culpeper, Fredericksburg, and communities across our Commonwealth,” said Spanberger. “These new buses will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save schools money, and better protect students’ health.”

The Clean School Bus Program was created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law — to provide an unprecedented $5 billion of funding to transform the nation’s fleet of school buses. The Clean School Bus Program funds electric buses, which produce zero tailpipe emissions, as well as propane and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, which produce lower tailpipe emissions compared to their older diesel predecessors.

To date, the program has awarded more than $2.7 billion to fund approximately 8,500 school bus replacements at more than 1,000 schools. Click here for more information about this announcement and the Clean School Bus Program.