PEORIA, Ill. — CityLink in Peoria has received $1.23 million from the Edwards Settlement Fund Distribution.
The settlement was the result of a 2013 lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and Respiratory Health Association (represented by the Environmental Law and Policy Center) against the owners of the E.D. Edwards coal-fired power plant on the Illinois River south of Bartonville.
The lawsuit alleged the power plant was in violation of the Clean Air Act. It must close by the end of 2022 and provide $8.6 million dollars in funding for projects in the greater Peoria region.
“They wanted to award it to different community projects. And, one of those was funding for an electric bus for a public transit fleet,” said Emily Watson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations with CityLink.
Watson said CityLink’s share of the funds will purchase a 35-foot Proterra battery-electric bus, the battery lease and charging equipment.
CityLink will add two other Proterra battery-electric buses in 2021 with a grant from the Federal Transit Administration.
The $2.3 million grant from the FTA is part of the Low or No Emission (Low-No) Bus Program in July 2019.
The three new battery-electric buses will replace three aging diesel-engine buses in CityLink’s active fleet of 53 fixed route buses.
