California announced $394 million in funding for transit projects around the state, including cash for fuel cell and hybrid buses, as well as compressed natural gas buses and infrastructure.

These are the first transit projects to be funded by Proposition 1B, a 2006 voter-approved $19.9 billion transportation bond pushed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"So, up and down the state our transit money will expand rail lines, buy vehicles for the disabled, and help systems upgrade to cleaner and more efficient buses," said the governor in a press conference

A significant chunk of the money will go toward upgrading tunnels on the electric-powered Bay Area Rapid Transit system so it can better withstand earthquakes, with $24 million allocated for the seismic retrofit and improvements.

Cleantech projects getting a piece of the pie include a hybrid bus purchase for the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency, hybrid buses for the city of Santa Rosa, as well as a clean fuel bus replacement project in Montebello.

Schwarzenegger said the overall funding would create 7,200 new jobs.

"And I think the other thing that is does is it will create 256 million dollars in wages, and it will be leveraged — there will be altogether 1.9 billion dollars spent on transportation," he said.

Napa county will get $300,170, while Santa Rosa is expected to pull in $501,869. Montebello's project will receive $1.5 million.

Earlier this year, a California cleantech transit program backed by cash from the federal government was launched by Pasadena, Calif.-based Calstart (see Calstart starts up fuel cell bus projects).

Calstart is the California operating division of Weststart, a non-profit transportation technologies consortium.

The group's $24 million program will test out new and existing fuel cell technologies on transit buses in the state to help commercialize the use of hydrogen systems.

The program is funded by $12 million from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration, with the balance of the funding coming from the companies involved in the project, including UTC Power, part of Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), London's BAE Systems (OTC: BAESY), and US Hybrid in Torrance, Calif.

The state funding announced by the governor does not include any fuel cell projects.

In addition to financing an infrastructure upgrade for BART, a number of municipalities will be getting cash for their electric light rail systems.

San Francisco's Third Street Light Rail system will be getting $3.7 million in funding, and Sacramento Regional Transit will receive $7 million, which includes financing for rebuilding 36 light rail vehicles.

A large chunk of the state's funding also went to compressed natural gas, or CNG, vehicle projects, including $2.5 million for Fresno to purchase CNG buses to replace older vehicles that emit more air pollutants.

In Los Angeles, $171 million will go toward a number of improvements, including an expansion of the Mid City-Exposition light rail line and purchasing 95 new CNG buses.

And in Orange county, $25.2 million will go toward building a CNG fueling infrastructure in Garden Grove, Anaheim and Irvine.

Schwarzenegger has been a vocal advocate for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in his state and has filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeking to reverse the agency's decision to deny California a waiver that would have allowed it and other states to regulate vehicle emissions (see California sues EPA, again).

The head of the EPA has since been accused of ignoring the advice of his staff when he denied the waiver (see U.S. EPA chief may have ignored advice on emissions).