To establish a pilot program within the Department of Energy to facilitate the use of alternative fuel school buses through grants for energy demonstration and commercial application of energy technology, and for other purposes.

July 17, 2001

Mr. BOEHLERT (for himself and Mr. UDALL of Colorado) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

To establish a pilot program within the Department of Energy to facilitate the use of alternative fuel school buses through grants for energy demonstration and commercial application of energy technology, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Clean Green School Bus Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT- The Secretary of Energy (in this Act referred to as the `Secretary') shall establish a pilot program for awarding grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities for facilitating the use of alternative fuel school buses through school bus replacement and fleet expansion programs under this section.

(b) REQUIREMENTS- Not later than 3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and publish in the Federal Register grant requirements on eligibility for assistance, and on management, transfer, and ultimate disposition of buses, including certification requirements to ensure compliance with this Act.

(c) SOLICITATION- Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall solicit proposals for grants under this section.

(d) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS- A grant shall be awarded under this section only--

(1) to a local governmental entity responsible for providing school bus service for one or more public school systems; or

(2) jointly to an entity described in paragraph (1) and a contracting entity that provides school bus service to the public school system or systems.

(e) TYPES OF GRANTS-

(1) IN GENERAL- Grants under this section may be for the purposes described in paragraph (2), paragraph (3), or both.

(2) REPLACEMENT BUS GRANTS- A grant under this section may be used for the acquisition of replacement buses pursuant to subsection (f).

(3) FLEET EXPANSION BUS GRANTS- A grant under this section may be used for the acquisition of not more than 10 buses to expand a fleet of school buses in an area with a high proportion of low-income families.

(f) REPLACEMENT BUS GRANTS-

(1) REPLACEMENT- For each bus acquired under a replacement bus grant, one older model year bus shall be retired from active service and crushed as provided in paragraph (2).

(2) BUS ACQUISITION- Buses acquired under a replacement bus grant shall be acquired in the following order:

(A) First, new buses will replace buses manufactured before model year 1977, and the older buses replaced shall be crushed.

(B) If all buses manufactured before model year 1977 owned or operated by the grant recipient have been replaced, additional new buses will replace diesel-powered buses manufactured before model year 1991, which shall either--

(i) be crushed; or

(ii) be exchanged by the grant recipient for buses manufactured before model year 1977 from another bus fleet, with that bus then being crushed.

Exchanges made under subparagraph (B)(ii) shall be made without profit or other economic benefit to the grant recipient.

(3) PRIORITY OF GRANT APPLICATIONS- The Secretary shall give priority to awarding grants to applicants emphasizing the replacement of buses manufactured before model year 1977.

(g) CONDITIONS OF GRANT- A grant provided under this section shall include the following conditions:

(1) All buses acquired with funds provided under the grant shall be operated as part of the school bus fleet for which the grant was made for a minimum of 5 years.

(2) Funds provided under the grant may only be used--

(A) to pay the cost, except as provided in paragraph (3), of new alternative fuel school

buses, including State taxes and contract fees; and

(B) to provide--

(i) up to 10 percent of the price of the alternative fuel buses acquired, for necessary alternative fuel infrastructure if the infrastructure will only be available to the grant recipient; and

(ii) up to 15 percent of the price of the alternative fuel buses acquired, for necessary alternative fuel infrastructure if the infrastructure will be available to the grant recipient and to other bus fleets.

(3) The grant recipient shall be required to provide--

(A) in the case of a replacement bus acquired as described in subsection (f)(2)(A) to replace a bus manufactured before model year 1977, 10 percent of the total cost of the bus , but not more than $10,000;

(B) in the case of a replacement bus acquired as described in subsection (f)(2)(B)(ii) to replace a diesel-powered bus manufactured before model year 1991 for exchange for a bus manufactured before model year 1977, 10 percent of the total cost of the bus , but not more than $10,000; and

(C) in the case of a replacement bus acquired as described in subsection (f)(2)(B)(i) to replace a diesel-powered bus manufactured before model year 1991, 25 percent of the total cost of the bus , but not more than $25,000.

(h) BUSES- Funding under a grant made under this section may be used to acquire only new school buses--

(1) with a gross vehicle weight of greater than 14,000 pounds;

(2) that are powered by a heavy duty engine;

(3) that emit not more than--

(A) for buses manufactured in model years 2001 and 2002, 2.5 grams per brake horsepower-hour of nonmethane hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen and .01 grams per brake horsepower-hour of particulate matter; and

(B) for buses manufactured in model years 2003 through 2006, 1.8 grams per brake horsepower-hour of nonmethane hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen and .01 grams per brake horsepower-hour of particulate matter; and

(4) that are powered substantially by electricity (including electricity supplied by a fuel cell), or by liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, propane, or methanol or ethanol at no less than 85 percent by volume.

(i) DEPLOYMENT AND DISTRIBUTION- The Secretary shall seek to the maximum extent practicable to achieve nationwide deployment of alternative fuel school buses through the program under this section, and shall ensure a broad geographic distribution of grant awards, with a goal of no State receiving more than 10 percent of the grant funding made available under this section for a fiscal year.

SEC. 3. FUEL CELL BUS DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM- The Secretary shall establish a program for entering into cooperative agreements with private sector fuel cell bus developers for the development of fuel cell-powered school buses, and subsequently with not less than 2 units of local government using natural gas-powered school buses and such private sector fuel cell bus developers to demonstrate the use of fuel cell-powered school buses.

(b) COST SHARING- The non-Federal contribution for activities funded under this section shall be not less than--

(1) 20 percent for fuel infrastructure development activities; and

(2) 50 percent for demonstration activities and for development activities not described in paragraph (1).

(c) FUNDING- No more than $25,000,000 of the amounts authorized under section 4 may be used for carrying out this section for the period encompassing fiscal years 2002 through 2006.

(d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS- Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not later than October 1, 2006, the Secretary shall transmit to the Congress a report that--

(1) evaluates the process of converting natural gas infrastructure to accommodate fuel cell-powered school buses; and

(2) assesses the results of the development and demonstration program under this section.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for carrying out this Act--

(1) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2002;

(2) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2003;

(3) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;

(4) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; and

(5) $80,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.