EPA chief talks $3B Clean Ports grant program
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan visited the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday to announce a new $3 billion Clean Ports program.
Regan met with port officials and media and took a boat tour of the L.A. harbor before holding a shoreside news conference at the Wilmington Waterfront to discuss the new funding.
The grant application deadline is May 28, with single applications capped at $500 million. Both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are expected to apply.
The program is designed to help ports nationwide transition to fully zero-emissions operations. Regan said his visit to the nation's busiest port — though not his first — helps him to “see things first hand.”
“I've been laser-focused” on the commitment to reduce pollution at the nation's ports, Regan said, but getting the job done will take investments from a wide swath of the public and private sectors.
The new grant funding is also geared to help residents living around major ports, as pollution levels have especially impacted those communities, Regan said.
Other speakers on Thursday were Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass; U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-San Pedro; Los Angeles Councilmember Tim McOsker, and Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka.
In her remarks, Barragan stressed that protecting port jobs was paramount, adding that it is the difference between speaking about automation and electrification, the latter of which requires human operators.
The port faces looming deadlines to transition terminal equipment to zero emissions by 2030 and the drayage truck fleet by 2035.
“This is super complex,” Seroka said. “It's layered and it's nuanced.”
While the new federal program won't fund all of the changes needed, Regan said, the money will certainly help.
“These resources are a huge shot in the arm,” Regan said.
Seroka and his counterpart at the Port of Long Beach, CEO Mario Cordero, praised the new influx of grant money earlier this month.
“It's crucial,” Cordero said in a written statement a week ago, “to ensure that the nearly $3 billion in funding goes toward impactful, real-world decarbonization projects.”