In an effort to address climate change, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) awarded $9.5 million through two grants funded by the Driving PA Forward program.
The grants from the Fast Charging and Hydrogen Fueling Grant Program and the Marine and Rail Freight Movers Grant Program are focused on reducing diesel emissions, improving air quality and promoting clean transportation technologies.
“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is key to addressing climate change and to reaching our commonwealth’s Climate Action Plan goals,” Wolf said, according to the Official Pennsylvania Government Website.
“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.”
Through the Fast Charging and Hydrogen Fueling Grant Program, five programs were awarded $899,447 to improve the state’s air quality through the expansion of the “availability of electric vehicle charging and accelerated adaption of battery-electric, plug-in hybrid electric and hydrogen fuel cell light-duty vehicles,” according to Pennsylvania’s website.
Another three programs were awarded $8,689,104 through the Marine and Rail Freight Movers Grant Program, which aims to reduce NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions for non-road equipment, such as freight-switcher locomotives, ferries and tugboats.
The Driving PA Forward Program has set a goal to permanently reduce lifetime NOx emissions from mobile sources by as much as 27,700 tons.
