Electric school buses, like this one from Lion, can improve the lives of millions of children. This originally was published on WRI. The past year has been all about protecting ourselves and our children from a serious respiratory illness: COVID-19. But as schools reopen and children return to in-person classrooms, many kids will spend part of every day in a toxic environment that causes harm to young lungs and minds: diesel-powered school buses. Nearly all of the approximately 480,000 iconic big yellow buses in the United States are exclusively fueled by diesel and produce diesel exhaust, a known carcinogen. This doesn’t need to happen. Clean electric school buses already successfully transport kids in a handful of school districts. We can and should deploy electric school buses across the nation. It seems like a no-brainer. So why hasn’t the switch happened already? The answer is money. Electric buses are cheaper to operate than diesel buses over time, but initial procurement costs can be almost triple that of a diesel bus. Most school districts are strapped for funding, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. They can’t afford electric buses even if the evidence is clear that such an investment would benefit child health, produce good manufacturing jobs and be better for the environment. Congress can tackle this problem. On April 21, the Clean Commute for Kids Act was introduced in the House and the Senate. It would provide $25 billion over 10 years to replace diesel school buses with electric, zero-emission buses. The program would be run by the Environmental Protection Agency, with the Department of Energy offering technical support. The legislation would prioritize communities that suffer disproportionately from low air quality, including low-income communities, Indigenous communities and communities of color. This proposal is on par with what President Joe Biden set forth in his recently released... |