TOMS RIVER – Toms River Regional School District recently purchased 10 new environmentally friendly school buses, courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In an effort to reduce diesel emissions from school buses, the EPA is providing rebates to school districts that purchase gasoline- and propane-powered school buses to replace old diesel-powered buses.
The Toms River Regional School District will receive $200,000 in EPA rebate money for the purchase of the 10 new buses. Toms River has replaced 29 buses in total using a total of $545,000 over the last three years.
“EPA is partnering with Toms River Regional Schools to scrap the older, dirty buses to ensure that they will not be put back on the road,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “We are progressively reducing diesel pollution and will soon make that familiar black puff of smoke a relic of the past. Reducing air pollution from diesel engines has enormous benefits for the health of our children and our communities.”
The latest rebate was awarded earlier this year from EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program through the School Bus Rebate Program.
[adrotate banner="278"]“To be rewarded for doing the right thing– providing our students safe, clean transportation while reducing our carbon footprint– with savings we can reinvest into the classroom is a remarkable opportunity, and we are sincerely grateful to the EPA,” said Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent David Healy. “The Clean Diesel Rebate Program has made our school district a better, safer, healthier place to learn and work.”
While EPA standards for new diesel engines can make them more than 90 percent cleaner than older ones, many older diesel engines are still in operation.
By providing rebates through this program, the EPA is aiming to reduce emissions and exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen oxides for children at schools, bus stops, and on the buses themselves. Over the last seven years, EPA has awarded approximately $39 million in rebates to replace almost 2,000 school buses.
EPA recently announced the availability of approximately $10 million in rebates to public school bus fleet owners nationwide. Applications will be accepted until Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019.
This is the seventh rebate program to fund cleaner school buses offered under DERA appropriations. Nearly 30,000 buses across the country have already been made cleaner because of DERA funding.
For more information, applicant eligibility, visit epa.gov/cleandiesel/clean-diesel-rebates. For information about opportunities in the clean school bus sector, visit: epa.gov/cleandiesel/clean-school-bus.
