This morning, Almeta Cooper, Moms Clean Air Force’s National Manager for Health Equity, joined Senators Chuck Schumer (NY), Debbie Stabenow (MI), Tom Carper (DE), John Hickenlooper (CO), Maggie Hassan (NH), and Catherine Cortez Masto (NV) for a press conference to celebrate the two-year anniversary of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
On this date two years ago, President Biden signed this landmark legislation into law. BIL contains historic investments that have already begun to expand clean transportation, reduce climate pollution, and advance environmental justice, among so many other benefits. In 2021, Moms Clean Air Force worked hard in support of the climate provisions included in BIL, drafting op-eds, hosting events, and meeting with lawmakers (over 200 meetings!) to urge them to vote yes and vote for our children’s future.
Today, Almeta focused her remarks on the BIL-funded $5 billion EPA Clean School Bus Program and the climate and health benefits of electric school buses that emit no tailpipe pollution. Here is an excerpt. (Read her full remarks here.)
“Every day, millions of children across our country ride to and from school on the bus—about half a million vehicles nationwide. Nearly all these buses are currently powered by fossil fuels—by diesel engines, which spew cancer-causing, climate-warming pollution from their tailpipes and into the air our kids breathe.
“At Moms Clean Air Force, we believe that our kids, our bus drivers, and our communities deserve better.
“I vividly remember putting my daughter on the bus on her first day of kindergarten all those years ago. That little sweater she was wearing; how I had braided her hair just so. Despite all my care, what I didn’t know then was that the pollution from that bus was actually a health risk for my daughter and all the other kids on the bus—and their driver. That pollution could interfere with her brain development, and her learning. And that’s why we need electric school buses.
“Electric school buses are changing real lives and communities for the better across this country. Let me give you three examples of how funding from BIL is proving transformative:
“First, Carmen Cortez, one of our members in nearby Montgomery County, Maryland is an electric school bus driver who—in just two years—is now training electric bus drivers in a program that went from one bus to 85! She’s grateful to be driving a bus that won’t trigger asthma attacks in her passengers.
“Or take Dr. Mario Ventura in West Phoenix, Arizona. Mario serves as the Isaac School District Superintendent, a predominantly Latino school district in the crosshairs of two major highways. Mario’s district received more than $2M for electric school buses in an area plagued by poor air quality. He’s relieved that his district’s new buses will contribute zero tailpipe pollution.
“Or take Kathleen Blust, a math teacher in the rural town of Pellston in northern Michigan where her school is replacing almost an entire fleet with electric school buses. Pellston is going all in on green-energy projects including solar-paneled public schools and electric school buses with $1.6 million awarded for EV buses….
“Carmen, Mario and Kathleen remind us that this funding is providing family-supporting jobs, cleaner air and hope for a better, more sustainable tomorrow—one electric bus at a time!”
