Delaware could get more electric school buses—with money from the bipartisan infrastructure bill which passed the U.S. Senate this week.
Elected officials and clean air advocates praised the $2.5 billionearmarked for new zero-emission buses and $2.5 billion for low-emission buses in front of a big, yellow electric bus in Newport Friday.
Wilmington resident Meredith Hurst is a volunteer with Moms Clean Air Force. She says electric buses are healthier for kids like her son, who has asthma.
“As a mother who has seen far too often the panic and fear in her child’s face as his chest tightens and he gasps to breathe, or the disappointment from being told he has to miss soccer because he’s being admitted to the ICU, I believe we have to do more to protect him and all children,” she said.
Electric buses and other vehicles are also key to limiting climate change. Transportation contributes nearly a third of Delaware’s carbon emissions.
“Today on average, there are about ten excessive heat days in Delaware, ten on average through the year,” said New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer. “And that’s projected to be 50 by the year 2050 unless we do something about it.”
President Biden recently announced a goal to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles.
