The Environmental Protection Agency has announced three school districts in Montana have qualified for grants through the Clean Bus Program rebate competition.
Nearly $4 million of the $950 million pledged through the grant has been committed to Montana. The three school districts are Bigfork, Clinton, and Fairfield.
The federal grant will cover 100 percent of the cost of the number of buses approved to be given to each district.
EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a news release: “As many as 25 million children rely on the bus to get to school each day. Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, we are making an unprecedented investment in our children’s health, especially those in communities overburdened by air pollution. This is just the beginning of our work to build a healthier future, reduce climate pollution, and ensure the clean, breathable air that all our children deserve.”
Dustin Gordon, Superintendent of Fairfield Schools, expects the district will receive “one to two zero-emission buses” by the start of the next calendar school year.
Gordon anticipates the buses will bring beneficial change to the makeup of the town of Fairfield.
“We had one that was going to get replaced anyways, in the near future,” he noted, citing the depreciation of one of the school’s standard school buses. “If we can replace it with an electric bus, and do right by our environment, and save our taxpayers some money, it all felt like a win-win."
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