Biden announces $3 billion to cut carbon emissions at US ports

Although the grant announcement appeared to be timed to help Harris’ presidential campaign, Biden appeared to shrug off those concerns as he followed Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to an open podium surrounded by metal shipping containers. “I think he may be the best governor in the country,” Biden said of Moore, passing up an opportunity to praise Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Biden used his speech to repeatedly criticize former President Donald Trump, and he responded indirectly to the controversy Trump faced after speaking at a weekend rally in New York where he made racist comments about Puerto Rico. Biden emphasized that federal funding for ports includes Puerto Rico. At one point, he even laughed and reminded himself, “Don’t go, Joe. Slow down.

The Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the East Coast, is a major import and export center for automobiles and farm equipment. More than 20,000 workers keep the port running, including unionized longshoremen and truckers.

The Port of Baltimore and other ports across the country are “keeping goods moving — keeping the economy strong,” Biden said. “And they employ over 100,000 union workers, from drivers to loaders. But for too long they have run on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure, putting workers at risk and exposing nearby communities to dangerous pollution.”

The new funding will help ports and communities across the country reduce operating costs and lower consumer prices, “while reducing carbon emissions and supporting approximately 40,000 new, good-paying jobs to support clean energy production across America,” Biden said.

“This is about environmental justice,” he added, citing studies that show higher rates of childhood asthma, cancer, lung and heart disease in residents living near U.S. ports.

The grants announced Tuesday include $147 million for the Maryland Port Authority to purchase and install cargo handling equipment and trucks to transform the port into a net-zero greenhouse gas facility.

The Port of Maryland is among 55 ports in 27 states and territories that will receive nearly $3 billion under the Clean Ports program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Ports receiving money include the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Detroit Wayne County Port Authority, the ports of Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, and the ports of Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Oakland, California.

The grants are funded as part of Biden’s landmark climate legislation approved in 2022, the largest clean energy investment in U.S. history.

Protecting people and the environment “does not come at the expense of a booming economy,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said ahead of Biden’s visit, offering an implicit rebuke of Trump and other Republicans who have complained that strict environmental regulations are hampering the economy. “In reality, a healthy community and a strong economy go hand in hand,” Regan said.

The grant announcement, which follows $31 million in federal funds to rebuild part of the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore, came a week after the owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the deadly bridge collapse agreed to pay more than $102 million in costs cleared to settle a lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice.

The settlement does not cover any damage caused by rebuilding the bridge, a project that could cost about $2 billion. The State of Maryland filed its own lawsuit, seeking, among other things, compensation for these damages.

Funding for the Clean Ports program will reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions by more than 3 million metric tons, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of nearly 400,000 homes for one year, Regan said. It would also cut emissions of 12,000 short tons of nitrogen oxides and other harmful pollutants, he said.

John Podesta, the White House senior adviser for international climate policy, said the grants will help fulfill Biden and Harris’ promise to “rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and address the climate crisis … and lift up communities that have borne the brunt of pollution.” “

In February, the Environmental Protection Agency announced two separate funding opportunities for U.S. ports: a competition for direct funding of zero-emission equipment and infrastructure and a separate competition for climate change and air quality programs. More than $8 billion in requests were received from applicants across the country.

California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla welcomed the announcement of the grant, which includes more than $1 billion for seven California ports. The Port of Los Angeles will receive $411 million, the largest award in the country.

“California’s ports move the goods that fuel our economy,” Padilla said Tuesday, noting that the state’s ports handle about 40 percent of all containerized imports and 30 percent of U.S. exports. The EPA grants will help decarbonize the U.S. supply chain “to produce cleaner air in neighboring communities and meet our climate goals while creating green jobs,” Padilla said.