Source: Washington Department of Ecology, October 2019
Beginning Thursday, October 17, the Washington Department of Ecology will provide about $12,000,000 statewide to help school districts buy all-electric school buses.
To help pay for the cost difference between electric and diesel buses, Ecology will provide up to $325,000 per electric bus. Grant recipients may elect to use up to $50,000 of the $325,000 grant to help pay for the associated electric charging infrastructure.
Apply to: Ecology Air Quality
Program
Title:
VW Federal Settlement—Grants, 2019 Funding
Action:
Request for Grant Funding
Due Date: Thursday, December 12,
2019
Summary: This notice announces funding available on a competitive basis to help publicly funded schools in Washington reduce toxic and greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel powered school buses by scrapping and replacing old buses with new all-electric buses. Examples of eligible fossil-fueled buses that may be scrapped and replaced include pre-2007 school buses powered by diesel, gasoline, natural gas, and propane.
Amount of Funding Available: Approximately $12,000,000 is available for eligible projects.
Eligible Applicant: A publicly funded school district or charter school that owns their own school buses.
Eligible Project Categories: Scrap and replace publicly owned, pre-2007, fossil fuel powered school buses with all-electric powered buses, including the associated charging infrastructure.
Application Deadline: Applicants must submit applications by 5 PM PST, December 12, 2019. To ensure a competitive application process and attract qualified projects, Ecology reserves the right to extend the application period, as necessary.
Grant Guidelines: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/documents/1902022.pdf
Notice of Awards: Ecology anticipates notifying successful recipients of awards by January 9, 2020.
Note: Ecology has an electronic grant and loan application system called EAGL (Ecology Administration of Grants and Loans). To apply through EAGL, applicants must first register for a Secure Access Washington (SAW) account and an EAGL account. See Application Process for more details. Detailed instructions for new and current EAGL users are at: https://ecology.wa.gov/About-us/How-we-operate/Grants-loans
For more information, contact:
Mike Boyer at 360-407-6863 or michael.boyer@ecy.wa.gov
Background:
To address climate change and improve public health, Washington is adopting innovative policies across all sectors of the economy to create clean energy jobs and transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. Although Washington ranks among the leading states for electric vehicle sales, transportation is still our largest source of air pollution, including greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change. Continued electrification of our transportation systems will reduce air pollution, including greenhouse gases.
Washington’s Volkswagen settlement represents an unprecedented opportunity to make transformative improvements across Washington’s transportation sector. Ecology’s mitigation plan identifies electric school buses, transit buses, and ferries, along with electric vehicle charging stations among key investment opportunities to reduce emissions that improve public health. The Departments of Commerce, Ecology, and Transportation are coordinating to invest in zero emission technologies for our publicly owned fleets and to expand our electric vehicle charging infrastructure network. These investments will reduce public exposure to harmful pollution, address climate change, and generate financial savings in fuel and maintenance costs.