On November 1, the Department of Environmental Protection awarded $9.5 million in grants to reduce diesel emissions, improve air quality, and promote clean transportation technologies.

This latest Driving PA Forward funding is for two grant programs: the Fast Charging and Hydrogen Fueling Grant Program and the Marine and Rail Freight Movers Grant Program.

Funding for the grant program comes from the Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund as a result of a settlement against Volkswagen.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is key to addressing climate change and to reaching our commonwealth’s Climate Action Plan goals,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “Supporting projects that reduce emissions and pollution is a step in the right direction to ensure a better quality of life for our communities and the environment.”

Five programs were awarded $899,447 in funding from the Fast Charging and Hydrogen Fueling Grant Program, which improves Pennsylvania’s air quality by expanding the availability of electric vehicle charging and accelerating adoption of battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and hydrogen fuel cell light-duty vehicles.

Three programs were awarded $8,689,104 in funding from the Marine and Rail Freight Movers Grant Program, which aims to improve the Commonwealth’s air quality by reducing NOx emissions produced by nonroad equipment like freight switcher locomotives, ferries, and tugboats, and descriptions were evaluated for being in a priority area, such as an Environmental Justice area, an Act 47 Financially Distressed Municipality, designated high-traffic and high-population density areas, and high-pollution areas. 

The Driving PA Forward Program aims to permanently reduce lifetime NOx emissions from mobile sources by as much as 27,700 tons.

A new funding round for the Fast Charging and Hydrogen Fueling grants is now open. The application period will close on Monday, January 31, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.

Click Here for a list of grants awarded.

[Posted: November 1, 2021]

11/8/2021