July—September 2024 Newsletter

Clean Buses for Cleaner Air

Across the country EPA is awarding $5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace older diesel school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models. Diesel vehicles create pollution that harms the environment, fuels climate change, worsens air quality, and threatens the health of children and adults. In the Pacific Southwest, the Clean School Bus Program is supporting school communities from American Samoa to Oakland, California. In California, EPA recently celebrated Oakland Unified School District's first-in-the nation 100% electric school bus fleet and Stockton Unified School District’s 40 new electric buses. Altogether, EPA is providing $26 million for clean school buses in California. The American Samoa Department of Education is receiving a more than $2 million Clean School Bus Program rebate to support the purchase of seven electric school buses. These investments are a crucial step toward improving children’s health, tackling harmful air pollution, and replacing older, diesel-fueled school buses linked to student and community health issues.

• Facebook: Video of Deputy Regional Administrator Cheree Peterson at Oakland Clean School Bus Event
• $26 Million for Clean School Buses in American Samoa
• EPA’s Clean School Bus Program

Supporting Underserved Communities

EPA has recently announced over $100 million in funding for seven organizations to help disadvantaged California communities tackle environmental and climate justice challenges. The investments will support projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity. The Community Change Grants Program is the single largest investment in environmental and climate justice in history; it is funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.

• Industry Dive: Funding for Environmental Justice
• EPA News Release: Over $100 Million for Seven California Environmental Justice Community Change Grants
• EPA’s Community Change Grants

Reducing Climate Pollution

Nearly $500 million of Climate Pollution Reduction Grant funding has recently been awarded to the South Coast Air Quality Management District to decarbonize transportation and goods movement, bringing cleaner air to communities in the South Coast basin and beyond. The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program provides nearly $5 billion nationally in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. The funding is advancing the historic Justice40 Initiative which aims to ensure that forty percent of the overall benefits of climate, clean energy, and other federal investments support disadvantaged communities. 

• Los Angeles Times: EPA grants $500 million to help Southern California fight pollution
• EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program