EPA’s Clean Ports Program Underwrites New Environmental Initiatives

By Tom Ewing 

On October 29, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will provide almost $3 billion in funding through its Clean Ports Program (CPP). The money will cover 55 projects in two large focus areas: zero emission (ZE) technology to reduce diesel emissions from trucks and drayage equipment and a more general category referred to as “climate and air quality planning” (CAQP). The EPA will fund 25 ZE grants totaling $2.8 billion and 30 planning grants totaling $60 million. A local match is required from recipients, with the exact cost-share varying by project.

The ZE funds, nationally, will underwrite the cost of 1,500 units of cargo-handling equipment, 1,000 drayage trucks, 10 locomotives and 20 vessels, as well as shore power systems and solar power generation.

CAQP investments take a more visionary look at preparing and modifying ports for new energy systems and sources. At the Mississippi State Port Authority in Gulfport, for example, an EPA planning grant will underwrite work outlined within the port’s “Roadmap to Emissions Reduction and Resiliency.” That project will assess ZE investments, community engagement and related workforce requirements, while giving directions about phasing in ZE equipment and setting related air quality goals at the port.

The EPA’s application period closed in May. The agency received project requests totaling more than $8 billion.

Great Lakes

Seven Great Lakes and inland waterways-connected states are slated to receive almost $335 million in CPP dollars—$313 million for equipment and $21.78 million for climate and air quality planning efforts. Funds will go to both state agencies and individual ports. In Michigan, for example, the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) will receive $3 million for state-wide CAQP port efforts. Separately, the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority was also awarded $3 million in CAQP funding. A research project at Detroit, led by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), will evaluate the feasibility of building barges to provide electric power for vessels in port.

Detroit was granted $21.9 million in ZE funds to help purchase electric cargo-handling equipment, vessels and railcar movers as well as charging infrastructure and solar generation equipment.

Port of Corpus Christi

In Texas, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority (PCCA) was awarded $105 million to deploy ZE equipment, which is expected to reduce so-called “criteria pollutants,” or pollutants for which the EPA has set general exposure limits. EPA funds will cover about 70 percent of the cost of six projects and three programs. Projects include three new battery tugboats, eight battery forklifts and seven charging stations. The port will also undertake before- and after-emission inventories, establish “community outreach and engagement activities” and address workforce training for the operation of the new equipment.

The Port of Corpus Christi calculates that the new ZE equipment will annually reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 186 tons, particulates by 3 tons and carbon dioxide by 650 tons and decrease diesel consumption by 800,000 gallons. In a press release, the port stated that the grant from EPA “affirms PCCA’s commitment to reducing criteria air pollutants, with a focus on quality of place and health outcomes in fence-line communities.”

Jeff Pollack, PCCA’s chief strategy and sustainability officer, said, “The Clean Ports Program is truly an exceptional and historic investment in our nation’s maritime sector.”

The roughly 30 percent non-federal match will be shared by PCCA and the sub-recipient owners/operators of the new equipment, which includes Bay Houston Towing Company, Signet Maritime Corporation, Suderman & Young Towing Company and Watco.

Port of Cleveland

The Port of Cleveland received $94.3 million for ZE equipment, a sum that port president and CEO William Friedman referred to as “a monumental achievement for the port.” Friedman said the new investments will “reduce port CO2 emissions by 40 percent, greatly improve air quality and advance our climate action plan in ways we could only imagine before.” The port will cover 90 percent of the cost share, with the balance funded through “private and public contributions,” according to a press release.

With the EPA funding, the Port of Cleveland plans to install a rooftop solar system and battery energy storage for port operations, purchase electric cargo-handling equipment and install associated charging infrastructure, deploy a shore power system to allow vessels to plug in while docked and build two new electric tugboats.

Carly Beck, senior manager of planning, environment and information systems at the Port of Cleveland, said the set of projects should be completed in about four years, starting in 2025. The new tugboats should be ready in 2028. The grant funds will allow the port to “transform the way maritime operations can integrate sustainability,” Beck said. Electrical upgrades, the installation of charging infrastructure and outfitting the warehouse roof with solar capabilities “will lay the foundation to make it easier for the implementation of future electrification and emissions reduction efforts,” she added.

Ports of Indiana

For its Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon ports on the Ohio River, the Ports of Indiana received $500,000 in CAQP funds. That money will be used to “conduct decarbonization planning,” an effort that will include developing emission inventories, analyzing reduction strategies and planning for emission reductions.

Kristin Brier, vice president of integrated planning and sustainable development for the Ports of Indiana, said port officials “are excited to get started on the assessment and engagement phases, and in the near future, turn data into action.”

Next Steps

Over the next few months, the EPA and the selected recipients will meet to develop final grant agreements, the documents that spell out all details and terms and conditions. When final, money will be released to get projects and related investments started.

According to the EPA, the Clean Ports Program seeks to build a foundation among maritime ports to begin a shift to complete zero emission operations. This is part of a bigger, compounding picture in which ports help leverage “transformational change across the freight sector.” Additionally, selected projects are at hubs designated within the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Transportation’s “National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy.” EPA said it expects further impacts because the projects could leverage and support new electricity and hydrogen markets as well as new generation, transmission and distribution systems.

Another priority of EPA’s Clean Ports Program is the advancement of issues pertaining to environmental justice, particularly air quality in near-port communities.

“Over half of the selected projects have a primary place of performance in disadvantaged communities experiencing poor air quality,” according to the EPA.

Award recipients are required to stay engaged with communities as projects proceed.

Workforce development is another critical metric. The EPA expects projects to create “new, high-quality and good-paying jobs in the domestic clean energy sector” and enhance the nation’s economic competitiveness.