EPA to reform Biden-era electric bus program that 'forced unsafe and unreliable' transportation

The EPA issued a request for information on a broad range of fuel options that school bus fleets can use, including biofuels, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas and hydrogen. 

Published: February 19, 2026 5:12pm

The Environmental Protection Agency Thursday announced it is seeking public input on a plan to reform the Biden-Era Clean School Bus program. 

The program provided funding for schools to transition diesel-powered buses to electric. The buses turned out to be unreliable and unsafe, with many schools unable to use the buses they purchased with the funding. 

“As was the case with so many of the Biden-era programs, the Clean School Bus program has been a disaster of poor management and wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. At the Trump EPA, we have zero tolerance for reckless spending,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement

The agency isn’t looking for schools to return to diesel-powered buses. It’s issuing a request for information on a broad range of fuel options that school bus fleets can use, including biofuels, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas and hydrogen. 

Power the Future, an energy advocacy group, praised the initiative. An audit of former President Joe Biden’s program found the Biden EPA “did not monitor bus deployment status and recipient use of over $836 million of the 2022 Clean School Bus" program. Two weeks ago, Power the Future sent a letter to Zeldin, requesting that the EPA look deeper into the electric bus program. 

”When it comes to transporting America’s schoolchildren, common sense should be in the driver’s seat, not the green agenda,” Daniel Turner, executive director of Power the Future, said in a statement. 

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