By WMBD-TV
ILLINOIS – In an effort to reduce air pollution caused by public transportation, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is offering up $27 million to some of the state’s transit agencies to buy electric buses.
“It’s no secret that transportation is the leading source of climate pollution—and it’s now time to incorporate a cleaner, healthier alternative,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.
The money will help cover 75% of the costs for each new electric bus and the cost of creating charging stations. There is a minimum award amount of $300,000 which will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis and will last until the funding has run out.
The funds come from a settlement with Volkswagen for violating the Clean Air Act. The settlement funds have since been used to help reduce the harm caused by Volkswagen vehicles on the environment.
The grant will be focused on the following priority areas.
• Priority Area 1: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, Oswego Township in Kendall County, and Aux Sable and Goose Lake townships in Grundy County.
• Priority Area 2: Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties.
• Priority Area 3: Champaign, DeKalb, LaSalle, McLean, Peoria, Sangamon, and Winnebago counties.
“This opportunity will fund the replacement of up to 40 diesel transit buses with electric transit buses, providing for cleaner public transportation in areas that experience disproportionate impacts from air pollution,” said EPA Acting Director James Jennings.
Only government and transit entities in these priority areas are eligible to apply for the money. In order for existing diesel busses to be eligible they must be currently operating in a fleet, must have a diesel engine 2009 and older and must be scrapped within 90 days of being replaced.
More information can be found here.
WMBD-TV can be reached at [email protected].
