The Biden administration's $5 billion investment in electric school buses will face one of its first tests on a tiny tribal reservation in Minnesota. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa is one of the first tribes to receive electric-powered buses through the Clean School Bus program, a centerpiece of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, writes Daniel Cusick. President Joe Biden pledged to electrify the nation’s fleet of school buses while investing in underserved communities, including $13.7 billion to improve the lives of Native Americans. The bus program offers a down payment on that promise. The health and climate benefits could be significant. Diesel exhaust from gasoline-powered buses has been classified as a human carcinogen. It causes and worsens respiratory conditions such as asthma and contributes considerably to atmospheric pollution. Red Lake, whose 10,000 members belong to the Ojibwe tribe, faces erratic climate conditions in one of the fastest-warming places in the contiguous United States. The challenges are also great. Like many other reservation school districts, Red Lake is geographically large and predominantly rural. School buses travel farther, have higher fuel costs and bear more wear and tear than in many urban school districts. Questions persist about whether electric buses can operate in extremely cold weather. Mike Nelson, the district’s transportation coordinator and one of its senior drivers, told Daniel that he is cautiously optimistic. The buses will initially travel shorter routes before navigating into Red Lake’s most rural areas, he said. They will also be stored in heated garages next to Level 3 charging stations capable of fully charging a battery overnight or during the school day. But the road to broad tribal adoption is long and full of obstacles. For instance, the program requires that combustion-engine buses are scrapped on a one-to-one basis for each new electric one. For many reservations, destroying a working school bus could be a deal breaker, experts and tribal leaders told Daniel. “We’re starting this transition. It’s here now,” said Alejandra Nunez with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation. “But we need to provide a lot of assistance to [underserved] communities who want to participate. You now have access to an electric bus, so what’s next?”
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