CHEROKEE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and his former environmental secretary — now EPA Administrator Michael Regan — are celebrating the use of electricity to transport children to and from school and activities.

Cooper and Regan were expected to join leaders of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in far western North Carolina on Tuesday to highlight what the tribe calls the first electric-vehicle school bus in the state.

The Eastern Band ordered the school bus through a grant from the state Department of Environmental Quality. That money came from the state's share of an emission settlement involving Volkswagen over its diesel vehicles. The Cherokee Boys Club received the bus this month.

Regan also planned to announce an EPA grant to help fund four additional electric school buses for the tribe's K-12 schools. The tribe, boys club and Duke Energy also are helping pay for these buses.

Regan became EPA leader in March 2021.