PORT ANGELES — Four grants totaling more than $19 million the Port of Port Angeles has received this year will give it a significant boost toward fulfilling its environmental sustainability and stewardship goals through infrastructure upgrades and electric equipment purchases.
Among the targets of the port’s environmental program are emission reduction, habitat restoration, cleanup of historically contaminated land and water and stormwater management.
The grants awarded in 2024 will enable it to shift many of its dockside operations to cleaner energy sources, reducing its carbon footprint by reducing greenhouse gases.
The grants also decrease the amount of local funds required to meet environmental standards and expand the port’s capacity to attract and meet anticipated capacity.
In October, the port was awarded a $9.4 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program by leveraging a $525,400 grant from the state Department of Transportation’s Port Electrification grant program.
The port will use the EPA Clean Ports Program grant to upgrade its shore power by installing a system that will allow docked commercial vessels with a variety of power requirements and connection points to plug into the electrical grid.
That will not only provide vessels with a cheaper alternative to burning diesel when they are docked, they won’t spew carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
A new electric cable management system that can store, transport and deliver shore power to vessels also is part of the upgrade.
The $9 million the port received in November from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program will fund an $11.25 million project for the purchase of two Tier 4 Wagner log stackers, two electric material handlers and an electric bulk cargo conveyor system.
The port will contribute a 20 percent match — $2.5 million — through the Local Government Finance Program administered by the state treasurer’s office.
The low-emission diesel log stackers are faster and cleaner than the port’s two log stackers currently in use. Those machines are more than 40 years old, and one or the other is frequently under repair and out of commission.
“The Tier 4 is the cleanest standard out there right now,” said Katharine Frazier, the port’s grants and contract manager. “It’s a huge reduction in carbon particulate matter.”
The 25-ton and a 50-ton electric-powered material handlers will give the port more flexibility in the kinds of cargo it can handle. The machines, which cost about $2.5 million each, can be outfitted with different kinds of attachments, like a clam shell grab for chips or a spreader to move containers.
“It opens the port up to opportunities to handle more cargo,” Frazier said. “We can’t put a container on a barge right now.”
The material handlers can be used alone or in tandem with a new conveyor system, which is funded by the WSDOT and PIDP grants.
The new conveyor system, which will replace the one currently in use that the port does not own, is actually six units linked together. The 600-foot system will move wood chips from a storage area to their destination on a barge.
It will eliminate the need for trucks to make an endless number of short trips loading and unloading chips for transport.
The new conveyance also is covered, so there is less waste when wood chips and other bulk cargo move along its length.
“It is safer, cleaner and faster that the one currently in use,” Frazier said.
In February, the state Department of Commerce awarded the port $105,000 to install EV charging stations for fleet vehicles and tenants at its administration building, the maritime terminal, the waterfront industrial area and the industrial park and William R. Fairchild International Airport.
Frazier said the port met with officials from the city of Port Angeles to discuss the upgrades and was told it had the capacity to handle the increased power demand.
While the purpose of the grants was to strengthen infrastructure, improve the reliability of services, invest in capital projects and support the local economy, Frazier said funding agencies looked favorably on applications that had a strong environmental component.
That wasn’t a stretch when it was already part of the port’s mission, she said.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
