EPA Funding Aims For Cleaner Ports For Healthier Communities

By Greg Herrigel

United States ports are some of the country’s most valuable assets. There are 208 commercial ports that handle at least 250,000 tons of merchandise annually. The industry represents $2.3 trillion in international trade and handles 2.3 billion tons of freight annually

At the end of October, the federal government announced almost $3 billion in grants through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Ports program, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It will be used to upgrade and electrify equipment and infrastructure and to implement air quality and climate planning at the nation’s ports, which a White House fact sheet labeled “the lynchpin of our nation’s supply chains.”

In addition to paving the way for a cleaner industry, the funding will help goods and passengers move efficiently and safely in domestic waterways.

The Clean Ports Program has three main goals:

To help America’s ports transition to fully zero-emissions operations over time,
To reduce pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions, and air toxins in communities near ports, and
To ensure that port industry standard practices begin to include community engagement and emissions reduction planning.

Fifty-five ports spanning 27 states and territories were selected, and they are expected to create approximately 40,000 high-quality, good-paying union jobs, including more than 6,500 manufacturing jobs. These jobs will join the 100,000 union workers already working in ports nationwide.

Photo Courtesy Port Everglades

There were two funding opportunities under the program, including the Zero-Emission Technology Deployment (ZE Tech) Competition, which provides $2.8 billion in estimated funding to 25 applicants focused on zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure that will cut emissions and bring cleaner air to nearby communities.

Some of the funding will be used to buy battery-electric and hydrogen-powered equipment, including more than 1,500 pieces of equipment for cargo handling, 1,000 drayage trucks, 10 rail locomotives, and 20 vessels.

In fact, the influx is expected to boost demand for domestically manufactured electric cargo handling equipment by a factor of at least six throughout the program.

The rest of the program’s funding will be directed toward infrastructure to power up equipment and vehicles, including charging infrastructure for battery electric vehicles (EVs), fueling infrastructure for hydrogen-powered cars, and shoring power systems for ocean-going vessels, as well as solar power generation systems.

Photo Courtesy Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

Meanwhile, the Climate and Air Quality Planning (CAQP) Competition funnels $60 million to 30 applicants focused on air quality and climate planning, supporting the mission to reduce emissions and transition to zero-emission operations in the long run.

Of all the competition applicants, 21 ports were selected with a focus on cargo handling equipment, nine on day trucks and on-road vehicles, nine on rail, eight on vessels, 15 on shore power, and nine on solar power generation. Forty-three of the 55 projects — 22 from ZE Tech and 21 from CAQP — are at hubs chosen through the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, enabling them to contribute to and complement its priorities for deploying charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

Photo Courtesy Los Angeles District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The biggest amount of funding, $411,688,296, is headed to the City of Los Angeles Harbor Department, primarily for use at the Port of Los Angeles. It is trailed closely by awards to the Virginia Port Authority at $380 million, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at $344.14 million, and the Port Department of the City of Oakland at $322.17 million.

All of the states in the upper tranches of funding were selected through the ZE Tech Competition. Most have a wide range of funding purposes across the different types of equipment and infrastructure available through the competition.

However, some had their funding directed into more specific areas. The Diamond State Port Corporation’s funding will be used on equipment. It saw all its $127.51 million earmarked for electric cargo handling equipment and charging infrastructure for the Port of Wilmington, Delaware. The Hawaii Department of Transportation’s $56.73 million was the only amount solely earmarked for hydrogen, specifically for hydrogen cargo handling equipment and hydrogen storage and fueling infrastructure for Honolulu Harbor.

Two, the Port of San Francisco and the Port of New London, Connecticut, saw their funding earmarked only for electric vessels and/or vessel shore power.

Only a few had any spending directed into locomotives, including the Salt Lake City Intermodal Terminal, the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Illinois International Port District.

Photo Courtesy Port of Virginia

The smallest amounts of funding, essentially encompassing any awards of $3 million or less, were for ports selected through the CAQP Competition. Some of the uses of this funding include developing emissions inventory; emissions reduction analysis, strategies, and targets; community and stakeholder collaboration or engagement; workforce impact analyses; and resiliency assessments and implementation plans.

Two of the biggest awards under this competition, in the amount of $3 million, are located in Michigan. One went to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy for operations at multiple ports, and another to the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority specifically for the Port of Detroit.

Some of the awards through the competition were for very specific purposes. For example, the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which also received $3 million, will conduct a terminal-specific feasibility analysis for replacing 40 pieces of cargo handling equipment and light-duty vehicles with zero-emission technology at the Port of Tacoma.

Photo Courtesy Port of Tacoma

In their first decade of operation, the implemented zero-emission technologies and infrastructure will reduce carbon pollution by 3 million metric tons, or the amount of energy used by 391,220 residences in a year. According to Michael Regan, EPA administrator, this investment will also cut nitrogen oxides and other harmful pollutants by 12,000 short tons in its first decade. The result will be cleaner air at and around these ports, shielding residents, especially children, from the risks of cardiovascular and respiratory harm to which they have been at risk. In the words of Regan, “healthy communities and a strong economy go hand in hand.”

Numerous studies have dug into the risk posed to children’s health by the type of activity that occurs at America’s busiest ports. One from 2009, focused on the Los Angeles–Long Beach port complex, found that heavy traffic corridors accounted for 9% of all cases of childhood asthma in Long Beach and 6% of all cases in the community of Riverside.

It also estimated that getting rid of shipping emissions in Long Beach would reduce the number of asthma-related bronchitis episodes by 21%.

Environmental justice is, therefore, a vital part of the current administration’s plan, with more than 50% of the selections located primarily in disadvantaged communities living with bad air quality. Plus, all the projects participating in and receiving funding from the program must engage with communities living near the ports about the project during its implementation.

Both of these priority points, including meaningful community engagement before applying to the program and planned for after completion of the project, were taken into consideration when making selections. Community-Port Collaboration resources, including primers, roadmaps, and case studies developed by the EPA’s Ports Initiative, are available for awardee use.

“By advancing clean energy solutions in every sector of our growing economy,” Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate advisor, explained in the press release, the current administration “continues to position our nation to lead the global clean energy race while protecting all communities — especially those on the front-line and the fence-line — from harmful pollution in the air we breathe and the water we drink.”

Additionally, these projects will help these ports cut operating costs, enabling members of these communities to further benefit from lower consumer prices.