Port NOLA secures ‘landmark’ $1 million EPA grant for green terminal vision

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) has been awarded a whopping $1,000,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set to go toward the development of its next-generation Louisiana International Terminal (LIT).

As explained, the Louisiana International Terminal will be built in the census-designated place (CDP) Violet in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, 17 miles downriver from the Crescent City Connection bridge, which is expected to eliminate the existing air draft restrictions for vessels that call Port NOLA.

As per Port NOLA, the project—considered the largest public economic development in the state of Louisiana—is currently in the federal permitting process, with construction anticipated to begin in 2025.

The construction is reportedly backed by a “historic” public-private partnership between Port NOLA and two private terminal operators. The New Jersey-based Ports America and Switzerland’s shipping colossal Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) via its terminal development and investment arm Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) are said to have committed a staggering $800 million toward the project.

It is understood that, once constructed, the new terminal will be able to handle the largest container vessels that traverse the Panama Canal locks and, as a result, “dramatically” increase the state’s import and export capacity, foster strategic inland growth and enable both container-on-barge and intermodal services to expand.

According to Port NOLA, the plan to build LIT encapsulates an endeavor to reach up the Mississippi River to 14,500 miles of inland waterways in more than 30 states, thus potentially linking more than 30 hubs, including Dallas, Memphis, Chicago and Canada.

Reflecting on the funding from the EPA, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. underscored that this marks a “crucial investment in Louisiana’s future”, supporting environmentally friendly infrastructure and ‘meaningful’ opportunities for the community.

“The Louisiana International Terminal represents economic growth and a commitment to environmental stewardship and workforce development that will benefit Violet, St. Bernard Parish and the entire state. I’m proud to support this project and the EPA’s dedication to ensuring that progress uplifts all Louisianians while protecting our unique environment,” he stated.

As informed, the Port NOLA LIT project plan is set to follow the Envision framework, developed by the Washington D.C.-headquartered Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), intending to achieve “sustainable, resilient, and equitable” infrastructure.

The Envision verification process is built on several ‘key’ pillars: slashing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with targets to reach carbon neutrality, cutting down on water and energy use and encouraging the use of sustainable materials, promoting social equity and community cohesion, improving public health, safety and access to essential services, focusing on local job creation and economy stimulation, as well as the protection of habitats and mitigating potential negative impacts.

In regards to the EPA grant, Port NOLA accentuated that money has been set aside to be granted to three community-based organizations to aid in ‘equitable’ workforce development and educational opportunities for Violet and St. Bernard Parish related to LIT’s sustainability outcomes.

Of the $1 million grant, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED) is set to receive $100,000 to support professional development for local communities around sustainability education. The Nunez Community College will receive $100,000 for port-sector educational programs, while the Urban League of Louisiana (ULLA) will be awarded $225,000 for workforce development. Port NOLA representatives shared that an additional $100,000 will be used for Envision programming.

“We want to thank the EPA, our federal partners and the Port of New Orleans for this funding and for supporting our mission to help hardworking families in our community secure equity and economic self-reliance. Together – through collaboration—we will strengthen our workforce and create careers that provide generational wealth for workers in Violet and the region,” Judy Reese Morse, President and CEO of Urban League of Louisiana, remarked.

“We look forward to working with the Port of New Orleans to invest in our future maritime and logistics workforce. This funding will allow us to provide relevant, local training, education and workforce development initiatives that will benefit the citizens of St. Bernard for generations to come,” Tina Tinney, Ed. D., Nunez Community College Chancellor, added.

In the 2024 regulator session, Governor Jeff Landry and the Louisiana Legislature reportedly committed $230.5 million to Port NOLA infrastructure projects including the Louisiana International Terminal. The state commitment followed “landmark” $300 million federal funding that Port NOLA received last year for the building of LIT, marking what is believed to be the largest federal investment in a new container terminal in the history of the US Department of Transportation.

At that time, the Department of Transportation revealed it would award this funding through its Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) competitive Grant Program, which endeavors to advance the Biden administration’s priorities to rebuild American infrastructure through funding of multimodal freight and highway projects.

As understood, LIT also garnered support from more than a dozen ports across six states and ‘major’ trade and agriculture associations spanning the American heartland, such as Missouri’s St. Louis Regional Freightway and the St. Louis region’s ports, which include America’s Central Port in Granite City, Illinois, Port Authority of St. Louis, Kaskaskia Regional Port Authority in southwestern Illinois, and the Jefferson County Port Authority in Missouri, south of St. Louis.

What is more, in October 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded a total of nearly $125 million via the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) National Grants Program intending to incentivize and speed up the upgrade or retirement of older diesel engines to cleaner and zero-emission solutions for marine vessels.

To be precise, the EPA tentatively selected around 70 national DERA projects to reduce emissions across a range of transportation sectors, such as engine replacements and upgrades to school buses, port equipment and construction equipment.

Among the winners of the grant was also the Port of New Orleans which secured around $1.2 million for the replacement of 34 drayage trucks as well as $727,000 to replace older truck models (1993‐2006) with 2011 or newer ones fitted with diesel particulate filters.

Among the winners were the Port Authority Of New York And New Jersey, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, the Northwest Seaport Alliance as well as the Port of Los Angeles, which also clinched ‘substantial’ funding of $412 million last year from the EPA through the agency’s Clean Ports Program the primary goal of which is to tackle the climate crisis and improve air quality at U.S. ports via zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure projects.

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