The National School Transportation Association is seeking $9.5 million in diesel emission reduction grants on behalf of its 13 member companies that contract private school bus service for school districts.
Since private school bus companies are not eligible to apply for these funds on their own through the EPA’s National Clean Diesel Program, which received $156 million in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NSTA invited its members to participate through a group proposal that the association could submit because it is a nonprofit entity. The EPA is expected to notify applicants in early June.
NSTA combined the requests into four applications and submitted them to individual EPA regional offices that are responsible for selection of projects within their regions. The combined total cost of the projects is more than $22.5 million, with $13 million coming from the member companies as matching funds. In the four combined applications, NSTA is proposing to replace 234 older school buses with new diesel and propane buses, retrofit 400 buses with diesel exhaust and crankcase emissions reduction technology and install fuel-operated heaters on 366 buses.
NSTA and school buses will have to compete for their share of the $156 million grant program. They are just one of the eligible vehicle categories; both on-road (trucks and buses) and off-road (construction equipment) vehicles are eligible, as well as non-vehicle projects such as electrification of truck stops.
