The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on August 20, awarded a total of $5.4 million to nonprofit groups, agencies and Port tenants to fund 28 projects that will reduce, avoid or capture emissions of greenhouse gases.
Solar-powered hot water and electricity systems, energy-efficient outdoor lighting, electric vehicles, tree plantings and water-saving landscaping are some of the projects that earned funding from the Port’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions Grant Program.
The awards were the third round from the Port’s Community Mitigation Grant Programs, which are designed to off-set environmental impacts from Port construction projects. For this round, $5 million came from the Middle Harbor redevelopment project and $400,000 from the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement project. The projects themselves incorporate best available technologies to cut pollution, but there are residual impacts that the grant programs are designed to address.
The grants approved August 20 by the Harbor Commission were recommended by an advisory committee of community members and representatives from air quality regulatory agencies and industry.
“These greenhouse gas reduction grants represent the latest contributions to our community from the Port’s innovative and groundbreaking mitigation grants program. With these projects, the Port is assisting those who are making an investment in sustainability in a variety of exciting ways,” said Susan E. Anderson Wise, President of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. “The Commission is very proud of the grant programs’ impressive success in the community.”
The Port Grant Programs were established in 2009 by the Harbor Commission to lessen the health effects of Port-related air pollution and to reduce greenhouse gases. In addition to the greenhouse gas grants, $9.7 million already has been awarded to local schools, hospitals, health groups, preschools and youth centers for projects including indoor air filters, new doors and windows, health education and outreach, and mobile health-care vans.
Greenhouse gas grants were awarded in four categories: energy efficiency, landscaping, renewable energy and transportation. Because many of the projects reduce energy use, the projects also will save money for the grant recipients over time. There were 83 grant applications submitted by the February 2012 deadline.
Recipients of the grants for this round include City of Long Beach departments, Port marine terminal operators, and area hospitals, schools and nonprofit organizations. For a complete list of greenhouse gas grant recipients, go to www.polb.com/grants.
