Killion Announces $500,000 Grant for RTM School District

Rose Tree Media School District is the recipient of the Natural Gas Vehicle Development Program grant administered by the Department of Environmental Protection to begin upgrading the district’s school bus fleet to natural gas vehicles in the amount of $499,994.

Rep. Thomas Killion (R-Delaware/Chester) announced Thursday that the district has been awarded the transportation grant to convert its bus fleet to compressed natural gas (CNG).
 
The transportation grant initiative was included in Act 13, legislation signed into law last year that authorized impact fees for natural gas drilling in the Commonwealth. For three years, the state will allocate $20 million annually for the Natural Gas Vehicle Development Program. The grants will be used to convert bus fleets to CNG and to build the infrastructure necessary to support CNG-fueled vehicles.

Killion said in a press release:

The grant will enable Rose Tree Media to convert 14 existing diesel buses to CNG, and to initiate the purchase of eight new CNG-fueled buses. The fuel needed to operate the buses will be supported by a new hybrid fueling station, which will be owned and operated by the district and will be built as an extension to the transportation center on Barren Road in Media.

"This is a significant grant, and I am pleased that Rose Tree Media School District is on the ground floor of this statewide movement to convert Pennsylvania to Compressed Natural Gas,” said Killion. “It makes both economic and environmental sense for buses and other fleet vehicles to run on natural gas. They are large users of fuel, and CNG is an abundant, cleaner-burning alternative to diesel and gasoline.  In addition to cleaner air, the conversion to CNG is expected to save Pennsylvania taxpayers millions of dollars every year in transit funding."