Roberts Hawaii has been awarded $200,000 in federal funding to replace 10 of its older-model diesel school buses with cleaner models that meet or exceed current emission standards, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA selected Roberts Hawaii as one of the recipients of the 2021 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) School Bus Rebates program. The funds will be used to purchase 10 new buses servicing public school routes on Maui and Hawaii island.

Replacing these buses will improve air quality in and around schools and communities, EPA said, plus reduce greenhouse gas pollution and better protect children’s health overall.

“We take pride in our responsibility to transport children to their schools,” said Randy Baldemor, Roberts Hawaii executive vice president, in a news release, “and the DERA School Bus Rebate plays an important role in ensuring that we can continuously provide high quality service and modern school buses to the community.”

Since 2012, EPA has awarded — or is in the process of awarding — over $73 million in rebates to replace more than 3,000 old diesel school buses across the U.S.

EPA also announced a new Clean School Bus rebate program which will provide an additional $5 billion over five years to replace existing school buses nationwide with low- or zero-emission school buses through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law later this year.

More information is available at epa.gov/cleanschoolbus.