School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

Senate Committee Approves Clean Diesel Funding

NSTA reported the Senate Appropriations Committee during the last week of June approved just over $20 million for diesel emission reduction programs — including the EPA’s Clean School Bus USA program — nearly a 60 percent reduction from the $49.5 million first requested by President Bush.

The Senate countered with a much lower $28 million figure before settling on the final amount.

Still it is the highest funding level for such emissions projects ever approved by the Senate Committee, which came in with only $1 million last year.

The funding is earmarked for the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA), authorized as part of last year’s comprehensive energy bill that covers a variety of grant programs to help reduce emissions from diesel vehicles and stationary equipment. School bus contractors are eligible to participate through local school districts they contract with or through funding provided directly to NSTA and other nonprofit organizations. Funds can be used for refueling, idle reduction, replacement and retrofit of existing buses.
The measure was headed to the Senate floor and will later have to be reconciled with the higher House funding level, NSTA added.

Meanwhile, NSTA began working with a group of interested parties that are looking at ways to access the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program funded with Federal highway trust fund dollars.

Each year, NSTA said, several billion dollars is made available to states and localities to fund projects aimed at improving air quality.

“In the past, much of this money has gone to major capitol improvement projects like high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, traffic congestion mitigation, bicycle or pedestrian lanes or improved traffic flow,” the NSTA wrote in its June 30 newsletter.

However, changes in the law enacted as part of the comprehensive highway bill last summer could allow greatly expanded use of these funds for diesel emission reduction projects like those carried out under the Clean School Bus program.”

NSTA representatives met with a group that included diesel equipment manufacturers, state highway program administrators and public health activists to map out a strategy to tap into this substantial source of funding for school bus retrofit and replacement projects.