WASHINGTON– The Biden administration is providing nearly $3 billion to boost climate-friendly equipment and infrastructure at ports nationwide, including in Baltimore, where a bridge collapse killed six construction workers in March and disrupted East Coast shipping lanes for months.

President Joe Biden announced the federal funding Tuesday during a visit to the city’s main port, saying the money will improve and electrify port infrastructure at 55 sites across the country while supporting about 40,000 union jobs, in reducing pollution and tackling the climate crisis. The presidential visit, a week before Election Day, was intended to highlight efforts by Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to promote clean energy while protecting and creating jobs.

“Ports are the backbone of the American supply chain,” Biden said in a speech at the Dundalk Marine Terminal, near the site of the March 26 bridge collapse that shut down commercial maritime traffic for nearly three month. A small blue and white sign near the site reminded passersby, “Project funded by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act,” the 2022 law approved with only Democratic votes.

While the grant announcement seemed timed to help Harris’ presidential campaign, Biden seemingly ignored those concerns as he followed Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore to the outdoor podium, flanked by metal containers. “I think he may be the best governor in the country,” Biden said of Moore, sidestepping an opportunity to praise Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Biden used his speech to repeatedly criticize former President Donald Trump, and he indirectly criticized a controversy Trump is facing after attending a weekend rally in New York during which racist comments were made. held about Puerto Rico. Biden emphasized that federal funding for ports includes Puerto Rico. At one point, he even recalled, laughing, “Don’t go, 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 workers support port operations, including unionized longshoremen and truckers.

The Port of Baltimore and others across the country “keep goods moving – keep the economy strong, Biden said. “And they employ more than 100,000 union workers, from Teamsters to longshoremen. But for too long they have run on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure, 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 approximately 40,000 new good-paying jobs for supporting clean energy production across America,” Biden said.

“This is an environmental justice issue,” he added, citing studies that show higher rates of asthma, cancer, lung and heart disease among children living near ports. Americans.

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

The Port of Maryland is among 55 ports in 27 states and territories that will receive nearly $3 billion under the Clean Ports program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Ports receiving money include the Port Authority 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 , in California.

The grants are funded by Biden’s landmark climate law approved in 2022, the largest investment in clean energy 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 hamper 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 funding to rehabilitate a section of Baltimore’s Dundalk Marine Terminal, come a week after the owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the bridge’s fatal collapse agreed 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 any damages related to rebuilding the bridge, a project that could cost nearly $2 billion. The State of Maryland filed its own claim seeking, among other things, these damages.

Funding for the Clean Ports program will reduce more than 3 million tonnes of global warming carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the energy consumption of nearly 400,000 homes for a year. Regan said. This will also reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and other harmful pollutants by 12,000 tonnes, he added.

John Podesta, White House senior adviser for international climate policy, said the grants would help deliver on Biden and Harris’ promise to “rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and fight the climate crisis…and lift up communities.” who bore the brunt of the pollution. “.

In February, the EPA announced two separate funding opportunities for U.S. ports, a competition to directly fund zero-emissions equipment and infrastructure and a separate competition for climate change and air quality programs. More than $8 billion in applications were received from applicants across the country.

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California welcomed 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 largest award in the nation.

“California ports move the goods that fuel our economy,” Padilla said Tuesday, noting that state ports handle about 40% of all containerized imports and 30% of U.S. exports. The EPA grants will help decarbonize the U.S. supply chain “to produce cleaner air in nearby communities and meet our climate goals while creating green jobs,” Padilla said.