EPA Ports Initiative Newsletter

October 17, 2023

Newsletter Items: 

• Upcoming Webinar: EPA's Clean Ports Program - First Look! 
• US Senator Cory Booker Highlights Groundwork Elizabeth’s Port Air Quality Project 
• EPA Announces Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grant Competitions
• Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Selections Announced
• Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program Funds Low and Zero Emissions Rail Projects

Register now! On October 31st from 1-3 PM ET, EPA’s Ports Initiative will host a webinar on EPA’s plans for the new Clean Ports Program, a $3 billion Inflation Reduction Act program to fund zero-emission port equipment and technology and to help ports develop climate action plans to reduce air pollutants at U.S. ports.



Join us virtually for an update on key program design elements including anticipated eligible activities and equipment, evaluation criteria, program structure, timeline, and more. EPA anticipates this new funding opportunity will become available for application through a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) released in late winter 2024. 

This webinar will be recorded and available for future viewing on our website. Spanish interpretation and captioning will be available. If you require special accommodations, including live interpretation into a language other than English or Spanish, please contact cleanports@epa.gov one week prior to the event to make arrangements. 

In August, EPA Region 2 joined Senator Cory Booker in Elizabeth, New Jersey to highlight federally-supported efforts to help monitor and reduce truck emissions near one of the world’s largest ports! 

In 2021, a $75,000 grant was awarded to Groundwork Elizabeth, a local nonprofit, through EPA’s Ports Initiative in partnership with EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants Program. The funding was used to form a Climate Safe Task Force with youth involvement, host six community meetings, install five air sensors to collect data, form a collaborative partnership with Rutgers University to analyze the results, and produce a final report on potential health risks. 

EPA is proud to partner with Elizabeth and all the communities that are working to ensure clean air and a healthy environment for everyone.  

EPA released two Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) announcing competitions for $4.6 billion in implementation grant funding under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program. The $4.3 billion general competition is open to states, municipalities, tribes, and territories, and the $300 million tribes and territories competition is available only to eligible tribes and territories. Eligible applicants will compete for CPRG implementation grants to fund measures in applicable Priority Climate Action Plans.



As part of its evaluation of applications, EPA will prioritize measures that achieve the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emission reductions. The NOFOs further describe how the agency intends to score applications and award the competitive funds. The deadline to apply to the general competition is April 1, 2024. The deadline to apply to the Tribes and territories competition is May 1, 2024. 

Important Deadlines

For more information, including how to apply, webinar recordings, and application materials, visit the CPRG Implementation Grants webpage. For other questions related to CPRG implementation grants, email CPRG@epa.gov.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $7 billion to launch seven Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) across the nation and accelerate the commercial-scale deployment of low-cost, clean hydrogen—a valuable energy product that can be produced with zero or near-zero carbon emissions and is crucial to meeting the President’s climate and energy security goals.



The H2Hubs will kickstart a national network of clean hydrogen producers, consumers, and connective infrastructure while supporting the production, storage, delivery, and end-use of clean hydrogen. Together, they will also reduce 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from end-uses each year—an amount roughly equivalent to combined annual emissions of 5.5 million gasoline-powered cars—and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs across the country while supporting healthier communities. Some of these projects will directly support ports, including the California Hydrogen Hub and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, which will introduce and expand the use of hydrogen at ports for cargo handling equipment and drayage. 

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently announced that it has invested more than $1.4 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law into 70 rail improvement projects in 35 states and Washington, D.C. This is the largest amount ever awarded for rail safety and rail supply chain upgrades through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program. A total of eight projects were funded to replace, purchase, or convert older diesel locomotives into new electric or lower emission models, including: 

• Maryland - Port of Baltimore Strategic Acquisition of Battery Electric Locomotives Project, Maryland Department of Transportation: Replace three older, nonregulated emission diesel-electric switching locomotives with three (3) new battery electric locomotives and one (1) battery charger at the Port of Baltimore 
• South Carolina – Procurement and Retrofitting of Two Zero-Emission Lithium-Ion Battery Electric-Powered Locomotives Project, South Carolina Department of Commerce: Design and construction activities for two (2) zero emission lithium battery electric powered locomotives and associated charging technology installation 
• Washington – Tacoma Rail Battery-Electric Switcher Locomotive Replacement Project, Tacoma Rail: Replace two (2) highly polluting, diesel-electric switcher locomotives with two (2) zero-emission battery-electric switcher locomotives, in addition to the installation of corresponding onsite charging infrastructure 

For more information on resources and best practices to address diesel emissions at ports, please visit EPA's Ports Initiative website.

Previous newsletters can be found here: EPA Ports Initiative Newsletter | US EPA