How we can clean up our ports in Delaware and beyond. Let's move

Ports are hotspots for local emissions and air pollutants, with frontline workers and nearby communities suffering disproportionate harm from these pollutants. Resources to address these issues have, for years, been insufficient or unfocused. The Port of Wilmington serves as an example of the struggle to address a legacy of environmental injustices while transitioning to a clean energy economy. Yet, the Inflation Reduction Act — signed into law in 2022 by President Joe Biden — is now providing an opportunity to increase protections for Environmental Justice communities with a newly-launched $3 billion Clean Ports Program. 

Delaware has a poor record of enforcing environmental regulations and the Wilmington port community has experienced at least 100 years of neglect. With a recent agreement for the new Wilmington port manager, Enstructure, to assume operations at the port came enthusiastic talk of expansion and the promise of jobs. What is not being discussed, however, is the impacts that this expansion will have on the health and wellbeing of communities that surround the port — which are largely Black and low-income residents already negatively impacted by port operations.

According to Jeffrey Richardson, the chair of the Delaware Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, “This nation has lost credibility at home and abroad for many of its environmental policies. The IRA is a long overdue vehicle for directing funds to some of our most environmentally compromised communities. The new Wilmington port manager, Enstructure, should be working with our coalition to aggressively pursue funds to clean its operations. Securing these funds will help reduce diesel emissions and contribute to cleaner air for port-adjacent Environmental Justice communities.”

Expansion at the Port of Wilmington means increased truck traffic, diesel emissions, and the off-port development that will likely occur as warehouse space is expanded. The planned process to make the port accessible to larger cargo ships will release sediments from the river containing dangerous levels of PCBs, dioxin, arsenic, and thallium. The owners of the port, Diamond State Port Corporation, have yet to commit to work closely with surrounding communities to consider the implications of expansion. Accordinging to a previous statement issued by the DCBAC, substantive participation by community residents has not occurred in the planning and review process, and the health of environmental justice communities hasn’t been considered. This is unacceptable and not in accordance with guidelines for a project that has received federal dollars from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmental justice challenges at ports are a critical issue not just in Wilmington, but nationwide. Marine vessels are one of the largest emitters of cancer-causing pollutants near ports. Increases in activity in the global freight transportation system have surpassed any gains by EPA rules, which have not been amended in over a decade.

Nevertheless, there’s good news. As a result of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, there are programs making grants available right now to begin the clean energy transition at our ports, including the Port Infrastructure and Development Program and the aptly-named Reduction of Truck Emissions at Ports Program. Another $3 billion offered through the Clean Ports Program to fund zero-emission port equipment and to help ports develop climate action plans. This new program will build on EPA’s Ports Initiative that is helping ports nationwide address public health and environmental impacts on surrounding communities. Funding under the Clean Ports Program can be used for charging infrastructure, electric drayage trucks, vessel shore power, electric switcher locomotives, battery storage systems, and electric cargo handling equipment.

As Kim Gaddy, the National Environmental Justice Director for Clean Water Action, writes: “President Biden is proud to call Wilmington home, and the IRA and IIJA should be used to help clean up his hometown port. Now it is incumbent on the Port of Wilmington to start applying for this funding and working with its neighboring communities, to make the transition to the clean energy economy. Our environmental justice communities, climate, and planet can’t wait.”

Terrance L. Bankston. Terrance is the Senior Ports and Freights Campaigner at Friends of the Earth (FoE), where he is responsible for directing organizing, coordination, and advocacy efforts along the Gulf Coast, in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Northwest regions to reduce air pollution from port and freight activity.