Date: August 25, 2021
To:
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House
United States House of Representatives Room H-232, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Chuck Schumer Majority Leader
United States Senate Room S-221, The Capitol Washington, DC 20515
CC:
Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, Deputy White House National Climate Advisor
Austin Brown, Senior Director for Transportation, Council on Environmental Quality Ike Irby, Policy Advisor to the Vice President of the United States
Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi:
On behalf of our millions of members and supporters nationwide, we urge Congress to invest an additional $22.5 billion over ten years to accelerate electric school bus deployment and install the necessary charging infrastructure. While we appreciate the investment allocated to electric school buses in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, we need this additional investment to protect our children’s health and reach our nation’s climate goals.
Every day, 475,000 diesel-polluting school buses carry 25 million children to school. Diesel exhaust is a known carcinogen that causes numerous health problems including lung cancer, asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia. This directly impacts kids, whose lungs are still developing, and school bus drivers. Black and Latinx children are disproportionately impacted by poor air quality, resulting in higher rates of asthma, emergency room visits, and hospital stays. Asthma leads to school absences, causing children to fall behind in their classes.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report released earlier this month makes it clear that we must act swiftly to prevent catastrophic climate change. Transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the nation, and since school buses make up the nation’s largest public transportation fleet, electrifying school buses will both decrease local air pollution and help us tackle global climate change.
President Biden’s Build Back Better Budget agenda calls for vital investments that tackle the climate crisis, reduce air pollution, and create good-paying jobs. An investment of $22.5 billion over ten years to electrify our nation’s school buses will do just that while bolstering our domestic industry, reducing asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments for our children, and training our workers in innovative transportation technologies. It is critical that Congress and the White House deliver on this commitment to our nation's school children.
Thank you,
350Brooklyn
350nyc
Advanced Energy Economy
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
CHISPA Florida
Chispa LCV
Clean Fuels Michigan
Climate Hawks Vote
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
Dream Corps Green For All
Earthjustice
Ecology Center
EcoMadres
Elders Climate Action
Environment America
Environmental Advocates NY
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Environmental Protection Network
EVHybridNoire
Florida Conservation Voters
Georgia Interfaith Power and Light
GreenLatinos
Highland Electric Fleets
Jobs to Move America
League of Conservation Voters
Long Island Progressive Coalition
Los Angeles County Electric Truck & Bus Coalition
Los Angeles LMCC IBEW 11/NECA
Maryknoll Sisters Eastern Region, USA
Moms Clean Air Force
Mothers Out Front
National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of our low-income clients
Natural Resources Defense Council
Neighbors for Clean Air
New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO)
New Yorkers for Clean Power
North Brooklyn Neighbors
Our Climate
PIRG
Plug In America
Proterra
Rachel Carson Council
Save the Sound
Sierra Club
Sustaining Way
The Environmental Center
The Union of Concerned Scientists
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
United Methodist Women
Voices for Progress