[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2518 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2518

    To establish a pilot program within the Department of Energy to 
facilitate the use of alternative fuel school buses through grants for 
 energy demonstration and commercial application of energy technology, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 17, 2001

  Mr. Boehlert (for himself and Mr. Udall of Colorado) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, and in 
 addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To establish a pilot program within the Department of Energy to 
facilitate the use of alternative fuel school buses through grants for 
 energy demonstration and commercial application of energy technology, 
                        and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Clean Green School Bus Act of 
2001''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Energy (in this Act referred 
to as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a pilot program for awarding 
grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities for facilitating the 
use of alternative fuel school buses through school bus replacement and 
fleet expansion programs under this section.
    (b) Requirements.--Not later than 3 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and publish in the 
Federal Register grant requirements on eligibility for assistance, and 
on management, transfer, and ultimate disposition of buses, including 
certification requirements to ensure compliance with this Act.
    (c) Solicitation.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall solicit proposals for grants 
under this section.
    (d) Eligible Recipients.--A grant shall be awarded under this 
section only--
            (1) to a local governmental entity responsible for 
        providing school bus service for one or more public school 
        systems; or
            (2) jointly to an entity described in paragraph (1) and a 
        contracting entity that provides school bus service to the 
        public school system or systems.
    (e) Types of Grants.--
            (1) In general.--Grants under this section may be for the 
        purposes described in paragraph (2), paragraph (3), or both.
            (2) Replacement bus grants.--A grant under this section may 
        be used for the acquisition of replacement buses pursuant to 
        subsection (f).
            (3) Fleet expansion bus grants.--A grant under this section 
        may be used for the acquisition of not more than 10 buses to 
        expand a fleet of school buses in an area with a high 
        proportion of low-income families.
    (f) Replacement Bus Grants.--
            (1) Replacement.--For each bus acquired under a replacement 
        bus grant, one older model year bus shall be retired from 
        active service and crushed as provided in paragraph (2).
            (2) Bus acquisition.--Buses acquired under a replacement 
        bus grant shall be acquired in the following order:
                    (A) First, new buses will replace buses 
                manufactured before model year 1977, and the older 
                buses replaced shall be crushed.
                    (B) If all buses manufactured before model year 
                1977 owned or operated by the grant recipient have been 
                replaced, additional new buses will replace diesel-
                powered buses manufactured before model year 1991, 
                which shall either--
                            (i) be crushed; or
                            (ii) be exchanged by the grant recipient 
                        for buses manufactured before model year 1977 
                        from another bus fleet, with that bus then 
                        being crushed.
        Exchanges made under subparagraph (B)(ii) shall be made without 
        profit or other economic benefit to the grant recipient.
            (3) Priority of grant applications.--The Secretary shall 
        give priority to awarding grants to applicants emphasizing the 
        replacement of buses manufactured before model year 1977.
    (g) Conditions of Grant.--A grant provided under this section shall 
include the following conditions:
            (1) All buses acquired with funds provided under the grant 
        shall be operated as part of the school bus fleet for which the 
        grant was made for a minimum of 5 years.
            (2) Funds provided under the grant may only be used--
                    (A) to pay the cost, except as provided in 
                paragraph (3), of new alternative fuel school buses, 
including State taxes and contract fees; and
                    (B) to provide--
                            (i) up to 10 percent of the price of the 
                        alternative fuel buses acquired, for necessary 
                        alternative fuel infrastructure if the 
                        infrastructure will only be available to the 
                        grant recipient; and
                            (ii) up to 15 percent of the price of the 
                        alternative fuel buses acquired, for necessary 
                        alternative fuel infrastructure if the 
                        infrastructure will be available to the grant 
                        recipient and to other bus fleets.
            (3) The grant recipient shall be required to provide--
                    (A) in the case of a replacement bus acquired as 
                described in subsection (f)(2)(A) to replace a bus 
                manufactured before model year 1977, 10 percent of the 
                total cost of the bus, but not more than $10,000;
                    (B) in the case of a replacement bus acquired as 
                described in subsection (f)(2)(B)(ii) to replace a 
                diesel-powered bus manufactured before model year 1991 
                for exchange for a bus manufactured before model year 
                1977, 10 percent of the total cost of the bus, but not 
                more than $10,000; and
                    (C) in the case of a replacement bus acquired as 
                described in subsection (f)(2)(B)(i) to replace a 
                diesel-powered bus manufactured before model year 1991, 
                25 percent of the total cost of the bus, but not more 
                than $25,000.
    (h) Buses.--Funding under a grant made under this section may be 
used to acquire only new school buses--
            (1) with a gross vehicle weight of greater than 14,000 
        pounds;
            (2) that are powered by a heavy duty engine;
            (3) that emit not more than--
                    (A) for buses manufactured in model years 2001 and 
                2002, 2.5 grams per brake horsepower-hour of nonmethane 
                hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen and .01 grams per 
                brake horsepower-hour of particulate matter; and
                    (B) for buses manufactured in model years 2003 
                through 2006, 1.8 grams per brake horsepower-hour of 
                nonmethane hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen and .01 
                grams per brake horsepower-hour of particulate matter; 
                and
            (4) that are powered substantially by electricity 
        (including electricity supplied by a fuel cell), or by 
        liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied 
        petroleum gas, hydrogen, propane, or methanol or ethanol at no 
        less than 85 percent by volume.
    (i) Deployment and Distribution.--The Secretary shall seek to the 
maximum extent practicable to achieve nationwide deployment of 
alternative fuel school buses through the program under this section, 
and shall ensure a broad geographic distribution of grant awards, with 
a goal of no State receiving more than 10 percent of the grant funding 
made available under this section for a fiscal year.

SEC. 3. FUEL CELL BUS DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--The Secretary shall establish a 
program for entering into cooperative agreements with private sector 
fuel cell bus developers for the development of fuel cell-powered 
school buses, and subsequently with not less than 2 units of local 
government using natural gas-powered school buses and such private 
sector fuel cell bus developers to demonstrate the use of fuel cell-
powered school buses.
    (b) Cost Sharing.--The non-Federal contribution for activities 
funded under this section shall be not less than--
            (1) 20 percent for fuel infrastructure development 
        activities; and
            (2) 50 percent for demonstration activities and for 
        development activities not described in paragraph (1).
    (c) Funding.--No more than $25,000,000 of the amounts authorized 
under section 4 may be used for carrying out this section for the 
period encompassing fiscal years 2002 through 2006.
    (d) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, and not later than October 1, 2006, the 
Secretary shall transmit to the Congress a report that--
            (1) evaluates the process of converting natural gas 
        infrastructure to accommodate fuel cell-powered school buses; 
        and
            (2) assesses the results of the development and 
        demonstration program under this section.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for 
carrying out this Act--
            (1) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2002;
            (2) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2003;
            (3) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;
            (4) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; and
            (5) $80,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
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