The Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) announced a combined match of $318,000 in additional funding for the Clean Air Agency’s Puget Sound Ports Cargo-Handling Equipment Replacement and Retrofit Program. This comes on top of $850,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for this new initiative that combines environmental stewardship efforts of several agencies.
The funding supports the retrofit or replacement of 38 off-highway trucks, cranes and forklifts at the Port of Seattle, which is approximately 10 percent of its fleet. At the Port of Tacoma, 50 to 60 terminal tractors, cranes, off-highway trucks and general industrial equipment will be retrofitted. That’s about 14 percent of its fleet. All the replaced and retrofitted equipment will use ultra-low sulfur diesel.
The EPA grant of $850,000 is matched with $118,000 from the PSCAA and $200,000 from the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. The project will substantially reduce diesel particulate matter through a combination of off-highway truck replacements and cargo-handling equipment retrofits. It will also further goals outlined in the NW Ports Clean Air Strategy.
The strategy is a collaborative effort between the Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma and Port Metro Vancouver (British Columbia) to reduce seaport-related air emissions in the region. It establishes short- and long-term performance measures to reduce emissions from cargo-handling equipment, rail, ocean-going vessels and trucks.
