The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aims to jumpstart the drive to reduce harmful carbon emissions at U.S. ports by awarding $3 billion in grants for 55 port projects with zero-emissions goals.
The awards, which the EPA announced on October 29, were for projects in 27 states and territories.
More than 20 of the selected projects, including some of the largest, would fund port electrification programs.
For example, the City of Los Angeles Port Department, which manages the Port of Los Angeles, will receive a $411.7 million grant that it will use to replace diesel-powered equipment with battery-electric cargo handling equipment, electric transport trucks with battery. and ship shore power equipment, according to an EPA fact sheet.
The department will purchase and install charging infrastructure, solar generation infrastructure and battery energy storage.
According to the EPA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to use its $344.1 million grant to help fund the deployment of electric cargo equipment and dredging trucks, with cargo infrastructure as part of the plan.
The Virginia Port Authority will use its $380 million grant to replace the internal combustion engine units at three of its terminals with battery electric equipment.
The funds come from the Clean Ports program, created in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Administrator of the EPA Michael S. Regan said, “The Clean Ports program is truly a game changer,” he added that ports are “the backbone of our economy”.
But Regan said at a media briefing on Oct. 28 that “too often communities around ports” face serious air quality challenges from diesel pollution from trucks, ships and other port machinery”.
Regan added that the projects funded by the new grants will reduce more than three million tons of CO22 emissions and also results in a reduction of other pollutants.
Grants were in high demand. The EPA said it received requests seeking a total of more than $8 billion, more than triple the available funds.
