EPA wants to fund more school buses that run on forms of natural gas, biofuels or hydrogen with the $2 billion remaining in the clean school bus program created by the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The potential funding shift comes after years of complaints from Republicans, who alleged the program is wasteful because electric school buses — which were the Biden administration’s focus for spending under the law — cost more than buses that run on fossil fuels.
Background: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act created a $5 billion program to fund the purchase of clean school buses. The law specified that half of the money must be used for zero-emission buses, while the other half could be used for either zero-emission or alternative fuel buses, including liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas, hydrogen, propane or biofuels.
The Biden administration went through three funding rounds totaling $3 billion. That money funded the purchase of 8,500 buses. About 90 percent of those were battery electric, with most of the remainder being propane and at least one bus running on compressed natural gas.
