Area Towns to Receive Funds For New School Buses

WAREHAM, Mass. (AP) — Two area towns and a public school district will receive a total of $240,000 in rebates to help pay for 12 new school buses that emit less pollution than the older buses currently being used.

Funding for the towns of Wareham and Dartmouth and for Swansea public schools will come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Diesel Program.

The funds are part of more than $7 million in rebates to be awarded nationwide to replace or retrofit 400 older diesel school buses in 35 states.

EPA in 2007 put standards into effect to make new on-road diesel engines, including school buses, more than 90 percent cleaner than before. The Clean Diesel Program is designed to take old, more polluting engines out of service.