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

While the grant announcement appeared to be timed to help Harris’ campaign for president, Biden seemingly ignored those concerns as he followed Maryland’s Democratic Governor Wes Moore to the outdoor stage, flanked by metal shipping containers. “I think he might be the best governor in the country,” Biden said of Moore, passing up the opportunity to praise Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Biden used his speech to repeatedly criticize former President Donald Trump, and he indirectly lashed out at a controversy Trump is facing after appearing at a weekend rally in New York where racist comments about Puerto Rico were made. Biden emphasized that federal funding for ports includes Puerto Rico. At one point he even laughingly reminded himself, “Don’t leave, Joe. Slow down.”

The Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the East Coast, is a major hub for the import and export of motor vehicles and agricultural equipment. More than 20,000 employees support the port’s operations, including unionized dockworkers and truck drivers.

The Port of Baltimore and other ports across the country “keep the goods moving — keep the economy strong,” Biden said. “And they employ more than 100,000 union workers, from Teamsters to longshoremen. But they have been running on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure for too long, 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 keep consumer prices low, “while reducing carbon pollution and supporting an estimated 40,000 new, good-paying jobs to support clean energy production across America ,” said Biden.

“This is about environmental justice,” he added, citing studies showing that childhood asthma, cancer and lung and heart disease are more common among residents living near U.S. ports.

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

The Port of Maryland is one of 55 ports in 27 states and territories that will receive nearly $3 billion through the Clean Ports Program, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Ports receiving funds include the Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey, the Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority, the ports of Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, as well as Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Oakland, California.

The subsidies are funded by Biden’s landmark climate law, passed in 2022, the largest clean energy investment in U.S. history.

Protecting people and the environment “does not come at the expense of a thriving economy,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said before Biden’s visit, implicitly rebuking Trump and other Republicans who have complained that strict environmental regulations are hampering the economy. “In fact, healthy communities and a strong economy go hand in hand,” Regan said.

The grant announcements, which follow $31 million in federal funds to rehabilitate part of Baltimore’s Dundalk Marine Terminal, come a week after the owner and manager of the freighter that caused the deadly bridge collapse agreed to to pay more than $102 million in cleanup costs to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The settlement does not cover damages for rebuilding the bridge, a project that could cost nearly $2 billion. The state of Maryland has, among other things, filed its own claim seeking this compensation.

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

John Podesta, White House senior adviser for international climate policy, said the grants will help deliver on a pledge by Biden and Harris to “rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and tackle the climate crisis … and help communities uplift those who have suffered most from pollution. .”

In February, the EPA announced two separate funding opportunities for U.S. ports: a competition to directly fund 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 Senator Alex Padilla applauded 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 nation’s largest award.

“California’s ports move the goods that power our economy,” Padilla said Tuesday, noting that state 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 achieve our climate goals while creating green jobs,” Padilla said.