Wyoming, the least populous state in the country and the leading coal producer, is not mentioned in any of the releases. In fact, it’s the only one that hasn’t accepted funds since the first awards in the ongoing five-year $5 billion initiative were announced two years ago.
The other 49 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have received or ordered electric buses as part of a long-term plan to replace fuel-powered student transportation fleets, according to the Clean School Bus program website.
In an email, EPA spokeswoman Shayla Powell wrote that no school districts in Wyoming submitted applications in the latest funding round. Two were awarded grants last year “but later chose to withdraw from the program.”
Representatives from those two Wyoming Districts, Albany County District 1 and Teton County District 1, said that, after reviewing the EPA’s expectations for maintaining the vehicles, school leaders determined their state’s coldest temperatures were beyond the threshold of electric bus chargers, and neither district could afford a heated indoor bus garage to make it work.
“Unfortunately, this didn’t come together for us,” said Charlotte Reynolds, spokeswoman for the Teton district, which has 2,900 students in grades K-12. That district’s application sought funding for just one bus. In the following funding round, applications from districts were limited to a minimum replacement number of 15 buses.
Albany County District's bus fleet operates out of Laramie, which is 7,200 feet above sea level, explained the district's spokeswoman Madison Green. She could not speak for states awarded clean bus grants that are further north and presumably cold, like Montana or Alaska, but said temperatures in that mountainous area of southern Wyoming have dipped to 30 degrees below (40 with wind chill) in any given winter.
Randy Wilkison, Albany County School District 1's chief operations officer, added that classes are canceled in extreme weather, but on a typical winter morning, buses will be hooked up to block heaters and warmed up 30 minutes to an hour before departures. He said his district initially received a grant for two electric buses in early 2023 and, after reviewing the maintenance requirements, decided to withdraw from the program in March before the vehicles were to be ordered.
Powell wrote that a relatively small number of districts in other states also withdrew from the program after the 2022 funding round for various reasons. In some cases, school boards had difficulties working with their local utility companies, and others were uncomfortable with the maintenance or limited mile range of electric vehicles.
In response to those events, Powell wrote, the EPA provided an Electric Sector Pledge to 2023 applicants and selectees, so they could understand ongoing maintenance requirements.
“In other cases, school boards voted against projects because bus and infrastructure prices greatly exceeded rebate funds, and the selectee was not able to cover remaining bus and infrastructure costs,” Powell wrote, adding that applicants are now required to complete a school board awareness certification form that affirms the applicants met with their district’s decision-making body ahead of time and have its support for the project.
According to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality website, the state has its own school bus replacement program that is partially funded by the EPA and settlement money from Volkswagen, though it does not involve electric vehicles. Under that program, 92 buses have been replaced since 2016. The replacement vehicles, which are also diesel, release 92.8 percent less nitrous oxides than the old buses.
