Today, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA02) announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing $4,345,000 in rebates to Middle and Southwest Georgia school districts for electric school buses they purchased. The rebates are made possible by the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, created through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law, which Congressman Bishop supported when Congress passed it in November 2021.
“I am happy to announce that schools in Chattahoochee, Macon, and Calhoun Counties are receiving over $4.3 million rebates for purchasing clean school buses. An electric school bus can save a school district, on average, $2,000 in fuel costs and $4,400 in maintenance costs each year. Electric school buses are also healthier for our students who would otherwise be exposed to concentrated levels of air pollution in fossil fuel-powered buses,” said Congressman Bishop. “These buses are being manufactured right here in Middle Georgia and being purchased by many schools across the country. The bipartisan infrastructure law is delivering for Georgians by helping keep children healthy, saving schools money, and supporting good-paying, local jobs.”
389 school districts were selected to receive a total of $913 million in rebates through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program. Three of the awardees are located in Georgia’s Second Congressional District. Macon County and Chattahoochee County school districts, as well as the Pataula Charter Academy in Edison, Georgia, received rebates to cover the purchase of 11 electric school buses.
The Blue Bird Corporation, located in Fort Valley, Georgia, is the manufacturer of seven of the new buses. Through the rebates announced this week, 128 Blue Bird buses were purchased by school districts across eight states, including several throughout Georgia.
In the year since it was signed into law, the bipartisan infrastructure law has directed millions of dollars to Georgia for projects to improve its roads, railways, bridges, airports, and water infrastructure as well as to expand broadband to rural and underserved communities.
Original source can be found here.
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