The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation announced today 39 entities will receive $8,854,685.42 in grant funding to support school-bus replacement projects across Tennessee. Locally, this includes Campbell, Morgan and Roane counties.

The program, which is the state’s first grant program funded by the Volkswagen Diesel Settlement Environmental Mitigation Trust, provides financial assistance to replace at least one eligible school bus with any new diesel, alternate-fuel or all-electric school bus, to aid in reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides.

A total of 143 school buses will be replaced with 68 new diesel, one all-electric, 66 propane and eight compressed natural-gas school buses.

Of the school buses funded, 44 will operate in economically distressed counties, defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission as among the 10 percent most economically distressed counties in the nation, based on a three-year average unemployment rate, per-capita market income and poverty rate.