The EPA announced the selection of 55 applicants across 27 states and territories to receive nearly $3 billion through EPA’s Clean Ports Programme. The grants will support the deployment of zero-emission equipment and infrastructure, and climate and air quality planning projects at ports across the country. They are funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and will reduce diesel air pollution from US ports and surrounding communities while promoting jobs.
According to the EPA, the funds will improve air quality at ports across the country by installing clean, zero-emission freight and ferry technologies along with associated infrastructure, eliminating more than 3 million metric tons of carbon pollution, equivalent to 391,220 homes' energy use for one year.
“In the US, 39 million people live within three miles of a port” said Fern Uennatornwaranggoon, Climate Campaign Ports Director at Pacific Environment, “Frontline and fenceline communities continue to pay the price for fossil fuels with their health and it’s long past time to address pollution at the ports. We congratulate the US Environmental Protection Agency on providing funding to clean up shipping and ports operations. We look forward to being a resource for the ports in their path to decarbonisation and moving ports to a zero-emission future by 2030.”
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