Feds Authorize $110 Million for Clean School Buses

But "highly unlikely" industry will realize full amount

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congress sent a mixed message to the pupil transportation industry this summer by dangling a carrot on a string before a starving rabbit.

The new Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005 (TEA-21) passed in July, authorizing $110 million over the next two years for the EPA's Clean School Bus USA program. But the only concrete figure appears to be $7 million, the actual 2005-2006 amount appropriated.

"I'm not holding my breath on that but in theory they could do that," said Gabe Rousza, an industry lobbyist with BKSH & Associates, on the possibility of additional funds becoming available. "The fact that they passed the (appropriations) bill makes it highly unlikely."

President Bush signed the energy bill into law on Aug. 8 and TEA-21, the five-year highway bill reauthorization, on Aug. 10 at the Caterpillar engine manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Ill.

In the fiscal year 2005-2005 appropriations bill, Clean School Bus USA funding came in at $7 million, a $500,000 decrease from this year's amount. The figure had risen as high as $10 million in the Senate and fell as low as zero in the House. Private contractors and non-profit trade associations join public school districts in eligibility to apply for federal grants.

The private school bus industry also stands to gain relief through the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), which provides $1 billion ($200 million annually through 2011) for purchasing and implementing emission control technology, re-powered diesel engines and reduced idling campaigns. Private fleet operators are eligible to receive 50 percent of the funds.

The new energy law and the highway reauthorization also include provisions for biodiesel consumer tax breaks. The highway bill is more explicit in its language, Rousza said, as it calls on the EPA to balance the awarding of biodiesel fuel grants with retrofits and replacements.

Source: School Transportation News, September 2005. All rights reserved.