Posted on 11/07/24
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - Nov. 7, 2024 - Maryland officials are dismissing pushback from a state transportation group and substantial budget concerns in announcing a new million-dollar initiative to purchase electric school busses.
The Maryland Department of the Environment last week announced it was accepting applications for $3 million in state grants to replace old diesel school busses with electric ones. It came on the heels of a public comment period for another program offering to award an additional $17 million to purchase these vehicles.
Department of the Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain cheered the initiative as a decisive move toward reducing hazardous emissions.
“Transportation accounts for more than 40 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions, so it is critical to support clean technology to decrease air pollution,” she wrote in a press release. “As we build the green economy and a healthier future, our schoolchildren are a great place to start.”
Jay Apperson, deputy director of the department’s office of communications, echoed the supposed environmental outcomes of the program when reached by Spotlight on Maryland.
“Our grant program helps jurisdictions purchase electric buses, which decrease air pollution emissions and improve indoor air quality for the children who ride them to and from school each day,” he said.
The grant’s website also claims electric busses will reduce “long-term operational costs” compared to diesel ones.
Steve Nelson, president of the Maryland School Bus Contractors Association (MSBCA), told Spotlight on Maryland the state has ignored his group’s red flags about the electric bus rollout.
MSBCA, which promotes the “efficient and safe transportation of school students,” says it petitioned state officials regarding their claims of the environmental impact of diesel busses. Diesel busses, Nelson said, have long been regulated to comply with environmental emissions guidelines.
“The diesel-powered buses are the cleanest they've ever been,” Nelson said. “You don't get the black smoke and the exhaust like you used to. When you pull in the schools, everybody has an idle policy now to where you don't idle while you're loading and unloading kids.”
“That claim about the cleaner air, it's just not there,” he added. “It's just not a legitimate argument at this point anymore.”
Swapping diesel busses for electric ones would represent a significant tax dollar investment, which may only yield a marginal environmental return, Nelson said. This, combined with the increased need for charging stations and other infrastructure required to accommodate electric busses, could soon snowball into a massive expense.
“I think the government's got the cart before the horse,” Nelson said. “[Electric busses] are expensive. They're like, three times the cost of a diesel-powered bus.”
“They need to put their money in other places,” he added.
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy found a new 40-foot diesel bus costs about $430,000, whereas an electric bus costs about $887,000. That same study found installing chargers for electric busses can cost about $17,000 each.
Nelson told Spotlight on Marylandhe felt unheard by state officials who have continued to forge ahead with plans to purchase more electric busses.
“We have talked to our local legislators and at the state and we're going to be doing a little more extensive stuff this year of going to them and tell them we're just not ready,” Nelson said. “It's just not time yet.”
“The powers that be don't care,” Nelson added. “I just don't think they care what people think. They've got it in their head that they know the best and that's what they're going to go on.”