Illinois EPA issued the following announcement on April 18.
Illinois EPA Acting Director John J. Kim announced the Agency is accepting applications for up to $650,000 in Volkswagen Settlement funding for all-electric school bus pilot projects in Madison and/or St. Clair Counties. The program was designed to improve air quality in the state primarily by removing old diesel engines from service. Illinois EPA announced the first round of funding in December, which included an all-electric school bus pilot project in Cook County. This funding opportunity is part of the State's allocation of $108 million received from the multi-billion-dollar Volkswagen Settlement after it was discovered Volkswagen installed emissions cheating software in certain diesel vehicles.
"We are excited to use this second round of funding to pilot all-electric school bus projects in the Metro-East area," said Acting Director Kim. "School children are some of our most vulnerable residents, and these grants will provide them with cleaner transportation."
The projects to be funded in this second funding round will replace existing diesel school buses with new all-electric school buses in Priority Area 2, which includes Madison and St. Clair Counties. The number of awards will depend on the number of applications received and the levels of funding requested. Based on the first funding round awards, the Agency expects to make approximately 2-3 awards in the second round.
Potential applicants may view the Notice of Funding Opportunity and all application materials on the Agency's Driving a Cleaner Illinois webpage and also at Illinois' GATA webpage. Applicants must pre-qualify prior to application submission. Additional information is available on the GATA webpage. Applications are due July 16, 2019 by 5:00 p.m. CT. Questions regarding this funding opportunity may be directed to epa.vwgrants@illinois.gov or 217-524-0546.
The Illinois EPA's Volkswagen Settlement webpage contains additional information on the VW Settlement and the Driving a Cleaner Illinois Program: https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/air-quality/driving-a-cleaner-illinois/Pages/default.aspx .
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