EPA funds to combat climate pollution hailed as ‘transformative’ for Orange County

Orange County officials are looking towards a cleaner, greener future after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Southern California air regulators $500 million to curb climate pollution.

Authorized by the Biden administration’s sweeping Inflation Reduction Act, the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant will empower local agencies across the Southland to invest in electric alternatives for the transportation of goods.

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley hailed the federal funding as “significant” and “transformative” for the metropolitan area she helps govern.

“We want clean air and a strong economy,” she said. “This grant will help us get there.”

Foley joined Sen. Alex Padilla on Monday for a press conference in Commerce announcing the historic grant, which is the largest the EPA has ever awarded to combat climate change.

Orange County accounts for 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the Southern California region covered by the grant, which includes Los Angeles and Riverside counties, a swath that encompasses 13 million residents.

County officials are hopeful that the Southland could see as much as a 31% reduction in greenhouse gases over the next quarter century.

“Transportation and our landfills are our most significant contributors of greenhouse gases,” Foley said. “If we’re able to bring the transportation greenhouse gas numbers down, that’s going to contribute greatly to the reduction in pollution and smog.”

Funding will help purchase 1,000 medium and heavy-duty vehicle chargers, 800 medium and heavy-duty zero-emission electric vehicles and 18 electric locomotives throughout Southern California.

The initiative is also expected to create hundreds of new green jobs.

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley has pushed for climate initiatives at the county level since being seated in 2021.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“If we are electrifying our heavy duty equipment, and we are creating jobs, those jobs are going to be predominantly in that central Orange County census area,” Foley said.

Another key goal of the initiative is to reduce air pollution from diesel emissions in low-income communities.

“We know that in cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana, we don’t have as many parks and we certainly don’t have beaches where people can go breathe clean air,” Foley said. “The more that we can invest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the more we can invest in ways that will reduce pollution and smog and help our families have better air to breathe when they’re out playing.”

Last October, Foley encouraged all O.C. cities to apply for the regional grant alongside the county. Multiple agencies, including the county of Orange, submitted a Priority Climate Action Plan in March.

The “Invest Clean” initiative was one of 25 projects nationwide to receive federal funding and the only one in California approved. It comprises 42% of the funding for cleaner transportation alone.

In all, the EPA awarded $4.3 billion across 30 states.

Foley said the county is ready to buy the cleaner, greener equipment. County officials are waiting on the South Coast Air Quality Management, which was awarded the grant, to allocate the funds.

Meanwhile, Foley is spearheading an effort to develop a countywide Climate Action Plan.

“The county CAP is going to be separate from the grant and hopefully helps open up more funding resources for us in other areas that we’re trying to become more sustainable and create more clean energy opportunities,” Foley said.

The draft is due before the board in September but will be open for review next month.