I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1461

To provide for the establishment by the Secretary of Energy of a pilot 

program and a development and demonstration program for clean fuel 

school buses, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2003

Mr. BOEHLERT (for himself and Mr. UDALL of Colorado) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science 

A BILL

To provide for the establishment by the Secretary of Energy 

of a pilot program and a development and demonstration 

program for clean fuel school buses, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean School Buses 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Energy, in 

8 consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental 
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1 Protection Agency, shall establish a pilot program for 

2 awarding grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities 

3 for the demonstration and commercial application of alter4 native fuel school buses and ultra-low sulfur diesel school 

5 buses. 

6 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 3 months after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

8 Energy shall establish and publish in the Federal register 

9 grant requirements on eligibility for assistance, and on im10 plementation of the program established under subsection 

11 (a), including certification requirements to ensure compli12 ance with this Act. 

13 (c) SOLICITATION.—Not later than 6 months after 

14 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

15 solicit proposals for grants under this section. 

16 (d) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—A grant shall be award17 ed under this section only—

18 (1) to a local or State governmental entity re19 sponsible for providing school bus service to one or 

20 more public school systems or responsible for the 

21 purchase of school buses; or 

22 (2) to a contracting entity that provides school 

23 bus service to one or more public school systems, if 

24 the grant application is submitted jointly with the 

25 school system or systems which the buses will serve. 
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1 (e) TYPES OF GRANTS.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Grants under this section 

3 shall be for the demonstration and commercial appli4 cation of technologies to facilitate the use of alter5 native fuel school buses and ultra-low sulfur diesel 

6 school buses in lieu of buses manufactured before 

7 model year 1977 and diesel-powered buses manufac8 tured before model year 1991. 

9 (2) NO ECONOMIC BENEFIT.—Other than the 

10 receipt of the grant, a recipient of a grant under this 

11 section may not receive any economic benefit in con12 nection with the receipt of the grant. 

13 (3) PRIORITY OF GRANT APPLICATIONS.—The 

14 Secretary shall give priority to awarding grants to 

15 applicants who can demonstrate the use of alter16 native fuel buses and ultra-low sulfur diesel school 

17 buses in lieu of buses manufactured before model 

18 year 1977. 

19 (f) CONDITIONS OF GRANT.—A grant provided under 

20 this section shall include the following conditions: 

21 (1) All buses acquired with funds provided 

22 under the grant shall be operated as part of the 

23 school bus fleet for which the grant was made for a 

24 minimum of 5 years. 
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1 (2) Funds provided under the grant may only 

2 be used—

3 (A) to pay the cost, except as provided in 

4 paragraph (3), of new alternative fuel school 

5 buses or ultra-low sulfur diesel school buses, in6 cluding State taxes and contract fees; and 

7 (B) to provide—

8 (i) up to 10 percent of the price of the 

9 alternative fuel buses acquired, for nec10 essary alternative fuel infrastructure if the 

11 infrastructure will only be available to the 

12 grant recipient; and 

13 (ii) up to 15 percent of the price of 

14 the alternative fuel buses acquired, for nec15 essary alternative fuel infrastructure if the 

16 infrastructure will be available to the grant 

17 recipient and to other bus fleets. 

18 (3) The grant recipient shall be required to pro19 vide at least the lesser of 15 percent of the total cost 

20 of each bus received or $15,000 per bus. 

21 (4) In the case of a grant recipient receiving a 

22 grant to demonstrate ultra-low sulfur diesel school 

23 buses, the grant recipient shall be required to pro24 vide documentation to the satisfaction of the Sec25 retary that diesel fuel containing sulfur at not more 
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1 than 15 parts per million is available for carrying 

2 out the purposes of the grant, and a commitment by 

3 the applicant to use such fuel in carrying out the 

4 purposes of the grant. 

5 (g) BUSES.—Funding under a grant made under this 

6 section may be used to demonstrate the use only of new

7 alternative fuel school buses or ultra-low sulfur diesel 

8 school buses—

9 (1) with a gross vehicle weight of greater than 

10 14,000 pounds; 

11 (2) that are powered by a heavy duty engine; 

12 (3) that, in the case of alternative fuel school 

13 buses manufactured in model years 2003 through 

14 2006, emit not more than 1.8 grams per brake 

15 horsepower-hour of nonmethane hydrocarbons and 

16 oxides of nitrogen and .01 grams per brake horse17 power-hour of particulate matter; and 

18 (4) that, in the case of ultra-low sulfur diesel 

19 school buses, emit not more than—

20 (A) for buses manufactured in model year 

21 2003, 3.0 grams per brake horsepower-hour of 

22 oxides of nitrogen and .01 grams per brake 

23 horsepower-hour of particulate matter; and

24 (B) for buses manufactured in model years 

25 2004 through 2006, 2.5 grams per brake horse-
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1 power-hour of nonmethane hydrocarbons and 

2 oxides of nitrogen and .01 grams per brake 

3 horsepower-hour of particulate matter, 

4 except that under no circumstances shall buses be 

5 acquired under this section that emit nonmethane 

6 hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, or particulate mat7 ter at a rate greater than the best performing tech8 nology of the same class of ultra-low sulfur diesel 

9 school buses commercially available at the time the 

10 grant is made. 

11 (h) DEPLOYMENT AND DISTRIBUTION.—The Sec12 retary of Energy shall seek to the maximum extent prac13 ticable to achieve nationwide deployment of alternative 

14 fuel school buses and ultra-low sulfur diesel school buses 

15 through the program under this section, and shall ensure 

16 a broad geographic distribution of grant awards, with a 

17 goal of no State receiving more than 10 percent of the 

18 grant funding made available under this section for a fis19 cal year. 

20 (i) LIMIT ON FUNDING.—The Secretary shall provide 

21 not less than 20 percent and not more than 25 percent 

22 of the grant funding made available under this section for 

23 any fiscal year for the acquisition of ultra-low sulfur diesel 

24 school buses. 
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1 (j) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than January 31 of 

2 each year, the Secretary of Energy shall provide a report 

3 evaluating implementation of the program under this Act 

4 to the Congress. Such report shall include the total num5 ber of grant applications received, the number and types 

6 of alternative fuel buses and ultra-low sulfur diesel school 

7 buses requested in grant applications, a list of grants 

8 awarded and the criteria used to select the grant recipi9 ents, certified engine emission levels of all buses purchased 

10 under the program, and any other information the Sec11 retary considers appropriate. 

12 (k) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

13 (1) the term ‘‘alternative fuel school bus’’ 

14 means a bus powered substantially by electricity (in15 cluding electricity supplied by a fuel cell), or by liq16 uefied natural gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied 

17 petroleum gas, hydrogen, propane, or methanol or 

18 ethanol at no less than 85 percent by volume; and 

19 (2) the term ‘‘ultra-low sulfur diesel school 

20 bus’’ means a school bus powered by diesel fuel 

21 which contains sulfur at not more than 15 parts per 

22 million. 
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1 SEC. 3. FUEL CELL BUS DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRA2 TION PROGRAM. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary 

4 of Energy shall establish a program for entering into coop5 erative agreements with private sector fuel cell bus devel6 opers for the development of fuel cell-powered school 

7 buses, and subsequently with not less than 2 units of local 

8 government using natural gas-powered school buses and 

9 such private sector fuel cell bus developers to demonstrate 

10 the use of fuel cell-powered school buses. 

11 (b) COST SHARING.—The non-Federal contribution 

12 for activities funded under this section shall be not less 

13 than—

14 (1) 20 percent for fuel infrastructure develop15 ment activities; and 

16 (2) 50 percent for demonstration activities and 

17 for development activities not described in paragraph 

18 (1). 

19 (c) FUNDING.—No more than $25,000,000 of the 

20 amounts authorized under section 4 may be used for car21 rying out this section for the period encompassing fiscal 

22 years 2004 through 2006. 

23 (d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 3 years 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not later 

25 than October 1, 2006, the Secretary of Energy shall trans26 mit to the Congress a report that—
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1 (1) evaluates the process of converting natural 

2 gas infrastructure to accommodate fuel cell-powered 

3 school buses; and 

4 (2) assesses the results of the development and 

5 demonstration program under this section. 

6 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec8 retary of Energy for carrying out this Act, to remain avail9 able until expended—

10 (1) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2003; 

11 (2) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; 

12 (3) $80,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; and 

13 (4) $90,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.

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