Colorado Launches $65M Electric School Bus Grant Program

The following groups issued statements on the program rollout:

• Alex Simon, Public Health Advocate, CoPIRG (Colorado Public Interest Research Group): “By eliminating toxic diesel emissions, electric school buses provide a safer alternative for transporting our children while also reducing ozone pollution. This is an exciting opportunity for our state to make significant progress in transitioning our school bus fleet to 100% electric, vastly improving our air quality and associated public health impacts.”
• Sara Kuntzler, Colorado Program Manager, Mountain Mamas: “Approximately 300,000
  children ride the bus to school every day in Colorado and almost all of those buses are diesel-fueled. Because the air on diesel buses is up to 10 times more polluted than ambient air, we’re putting those kids at risk. What’s more, diesel pollution can harm not just the children on the bus but also those playing on the playground next to idling buses and the community they drive through. Colorado moms want more clean, electric school buses to protect our kids.”
• Nissa Erickson, Federal Funding Coordinator for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP): “Thanks to this program, kids all across Colorado will be able to get on board a clean, efficient, electric school bus. That will mean cleaner air for kids to breathe, a safer climate for Colorado, and meaningful budget savings for school districts, so they can spend more on teaching and less on transportation.”
• Mary Harlan, Transportation Program Associate, CLEER: “The inside of diesel school buses poses as much threat to children’s health and well-being as the outside. According to an original study published in the Journal of Health Economics (September 2011), diesel air pollutants not only affect ambient air, but are found to be ten times higher on the interior of the bus in its cabin. Illnesses related to air quality such as asthma and bronchitis were significantly lower when diesel particulate matter was not present on the interior of the school bus. We strive for clean air outside; we should expect clean air on the inside of our buses.”
• Juan Roberto Madrid, Clean Transportation and Energy Policy Advocate, GreenLatinos: “This program is a step in the right direction to improving air quality for black, brown, and indigenous children living in disproportionately impacted communities that currently suffer the greatest health impacts from severely degraded air quality in the Denver Metro area and across Colorado.”