WASHINGTON, May 5 (Portal) – The Biden administration on Friday launched a $4 billion effort to electrify U.S. ports and cut emissions from heavy trucks as the government seeks to avoid disproportionate impacts on to target nearby communities.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it is seeking input on its $3 billion Clean Ports program to reduce pollutants in U.S. ports and its $1 billion Clean Heavy Duty Vehicle -Program to reduce vehicle emissions near ports and other truck routes. EPA wants details on the availability, market price, and performance of zero-emission trucks, zero-emission port equipment, electric charging, and other infrastructure requirements for zero-emission technologies.
White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said the program “tackles the harmful pollution being pumped through our port communities by making investments and setting standards that support a shift away from dirty diesel and toward clean American-made technologies.” will advance”.
Zaidi told Portal that ports account for a significant portion of the emissions. “They are concentrated pockets of pollution,” Zaidi said. “They can accelerate towards more productive, efficient economic hubs, but we can reduce emissions at the same time.”
Earlier this year, for the first time in more than two decades, the EPA finalized new air quality standards for heavy-duty trucks that are 80% stricter than current standards. The EPA estimates that the rule will result in up to 2,900 fewer premature deaths annually by 2045, 1.1 million fewer school days lost by children, and $29 billion in annual net profits.
The Senate voted 50-49 last week to repeal those rules aimed at drastically reducing smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks, but President Joe Biden has promised to veto the measure.
In April, the EPA proposed new far-reaching cuts in emissions limits for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks.
“People who live near ports know that air pollution can be extreme because all trucks and all vehicles that move goods in and out of ports and on the backs of ships pollute the air significantly,” Biden said in the April.
California regulators last week passed new regulations requiring all medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold in the state in 2036 to be zero-emissions and new reduced-emissions regulations for locomotives. Major oil rigs, local delivery and government fleets must be zero-emissions by 2035, garbage trucks and local buses by 2039, and sleeper tractors and special vehicles by 2042.
Reporting by David Shepardson
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