KANSAS CITY, Kan. — EPA Region 7 recently presented a $454,849 grant to Grace Hill Settlement House to fund the St. Louis School Bus Retrofit program.

First Student Inc., which provides school bus service throughout St. Louis, will use the funds to make emissions-reduction improvements to 520 of the buses it owns and operates in the area.

The grant was presented at a ceremony at First Student’s bus yard in St. Louis.

"School buses have long been the safest form of transportation for our students, and we are proud to participate in programs that make them more efficient," said Wayne Gensler, regional vice president of First Student. "We constantly aim to reduce bus emissions by investing in our fleet, adopting new technologies, exploring alternative fuels and enacting sustainable policies.”

The grant, which was awarded under the EPA’s Blue Skyways Collaborative, will be used to retrofit the buses with crankcase ventilation filters.