{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://neal.house.gov/2022/10/18/news-documentsingle-aspx-documentid-2625/", "Neal Celebrates $54 Million Federal Grant to PVTA", "2022-10-18", "2022", "2022-10", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Richard E. Neal", "N000015", "neal.house.gov", "neal", "https://neal.house.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "Springfield, MA\n\nToday, Congressman Richard E. Neal, Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means joined Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, and Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) Administrator Sandra Sheehan to celebrate the awarding of a $54 million Federal Transit Authority (FTA) grant to the PVTA. The grant comes from the FTA\u2019s Low- and No-Emission and Bus/Bus Facilities Grant Programs.\n\n\u201cThanks to President Biden\u2019s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the PVTA will be able to continue their mission of providing high quality transportation services while ensuring it is done in an environmentally conscious manner,\u201d said Congressman Neal. \u201cCongratulations to Sandra Sheehan and her team for this tremendous award.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs PVTA focuses on reducing emissions and addressing the needs of the environment, we are overjoyed to receive this Low/No Grant to continue our path towards electrifying our fleet,\u201d said Sheehan. \u201cFunding will be used to purchase 4 battery-electric buses along with the infrastructure to maintain our electric vehicles and the associated workforce development training. We are extremely grateful for the support we received and the opportunity to expand upon projects that reduce energy consumption and increase access to clean, efficient mass transit.\n\n\u201cIn addition,\u201d Sheehan continued, \u201cBBF funds have been awarded to repair and upgrade the Bus Bays at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Bus Maintenance Facility which will improve the safety, service capacity and reliability of PVTA\u2019s buses to help meet demand.\u201d\n\nMayor Sarno stated, \u201cThanks to Congressman Richard Neal, who once a mayor always the heart of a mayor, the PVTA is being awarded this $54 million FTA grant funding to go green by reducing emissions by eliminating gasoline powered buses and replacing them with electric buses. With the PVTA servicing our Springfield community, I am pleased that this PVTA green initiative supports my administrations Climate Action and Resilience Plan by utilize green energy initiatives and programs to reduce our carbon footprint and enhance the infrastructure needed to maintain these new vehicles.\u201d\n\nMore information on the FTA\u2019s Bus and Low- and No-Emission Grant Awards can be found HERE.\n\n##", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:20:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://neal.house.gov/2022/10/18/news-documentsingle-aspx-documentid-2625/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7660549599677324, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}