PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles is one of six Washington ports to share more than $104 million through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program for investment in infrastructure upgrades and equipment purchases that will help reduce greenhouse gases and air pollutants.
The port’s $9.4 million award will help fast-track the port’s zero-emission goals, commissioner Connie Beauvais said.
“This is groundbreaking for a community like Clallam County,” Beauvais said. “It gives us a greener and cleaner environment.”
The award was announced Tuesday by Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and U.S. Reps. Derek Kilmer and Rick Larsen.
The five other ports to receive funding are the Port of Anacortes ($65 million); the Port of Vancouver ($22.6 million); the Port of Seattle ($3 million); the Northwest Seaport Alliance/Tacoma ($3 million); and the Port of Bellingham ($1.5 million).
“Our ports are amazing engines of economic growth and opportunity,” Kilmer said in a written statement. “That’s why this investment from the EPA is such a big deal, especially for folks on the Olympic Peninsula. As a Port Angeles native, I’m proud to have supported this important project and look forward to a bright future for the port and for workers in our community.”
The funding will pay for a complete upgrade of the baseline electrical infrastructure at marine terminals 1 and 3 and the installation of eight power pedestals that vessels can plug into.
Although the port currently has the capacity for ship-to-shore power, it is limited. The new system will allow for more and additional types of vessels to plug in, said Katharine Frazier, grants and contracts manager for the port.
“If we had this when the cargo ship that was towed here earlier this year, it could have used the shore power rather than run on diesel,” she said.
The port estimates that planning, design, permitting, bidding and work on the project will take four years.
It will start procuring its all-electric cargo-handling equipment in the first quarter next year. On its list are two forklifts, a reach stacker, a 600-foot-long mobile conveyor belt and two cable management units.
The EPA award will fund most of the project’s total cost of $10.5 million. The port applied for a $525,000 state Department of Transportation port electrification grant it received earlier this year toward the required 10 percent match, and it kicked in the remaining $500,000 — about 5 percent of the total cost.
It was a very good deal, Frazier said.
“We’re just really grateful for all of our partners to help get us across the finish line,” she said.
Next on the port’s zero-emissions checklist, Beauvais said, is electrifying its vehicle fleet and — further in the future — building charging infrastructure at William R. Fairchild International Airport.
“We can see planes flying in and recharging, giving another reason for them to come here,” she said.
Port Angeles is one of five public airports in Washington that joined the Chehalis-Centralia Airport to apply for a federal grant that would fund electrical aviation infrastructure. The others were Boeing Field, Friday Harbor Airport, Paine Field and Yakima Air Terminal.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
