The Environmental Protection Agency is giving out billions of dollars in grants toward reducing climate pollution, including transportation projects addressing zero-emission trucks.
On Monday, July 22, the EPA announced more than $4 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants has been awarded to 25 applicants and will fund projects in 30 states. The grants fund programs that “implement community-driven solutions to the climate crisis, reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice and accelerate America’s clean energy transition,” according to the EPA.
More than $1 billion was awarded to 11 projects in the transportation sector, five of which deal with zero-emission trucks.
Commonly referred to as “zero-emission” trucks, electric and hydrogen-fueled trucks are actually “zero-direct-emission” vehicles, as defined by the Department of Energy. Although emission measured on a tailpipe basis (direct) may be zero, emission related to battery production, distribution, recycling and disposal do not have a net-zero result.
California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District received the lion’s share of that funding. Nearly $500 million will fund the installation of more than 1,000 medium- and heavy-duty vehicle chargers and deploy 800 medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission trucks in Southern California. The grant is the largest in the agency’s history.
“Southern California is the heart of our nation’s goods movement, and by making these crucial investments in zero-emission infrastructure, we are one step closer to protecting our planet, decarbonizing the heavy-duty sector and improving air quality for underserved communities who for too long have been left behind,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said in a statement.
In the Northeast, nearly $250 million will go toward developing about 20 zero-emission truck charging infrastructure sites along the Interstate 95 freight corridor in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey.
That will include 148 ports suitable for overnight use, 164 fast-charging ports and 138 ultra-fast-charging ports. The grant also funds the training of 400 workers to construct, operate and maintain the heavy-duty vehicles infrastructure.
A $75 million grant in Utah includes a program that will provide zero-emission truck incentives for fleet operators. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will receive $200 million, which will go partly to the state’s zero-emission truck rebate program. The Illinois state EPA’s grant, worth more than $400 million, will go toward incentives, workforce training and technical assistance to reduce truck emission.
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants funding was split among six sectors: transportation, electric power, commercial/residential buildings, industry, agriculture/natural and working lands and waste and materials management. Pennsylvania received nearly $400 million for decarbonization projects at industrial facilities, one of the largest federal grants the state has ever received.
“Selected recipients have put forward ambitious plans to advance sustainable agriculture, deploy clean industrial technologies, cut emissions and energy costs in homes and commercial buildings, and provide cost- and energy-efficient heating and cooling to communities, creating economic and workforce development opportunities along the way,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. LL
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