President Joe Biden is set to announce a $3 billion investment to upgrade ports across the U.S. during a Tuesday stop at the Port of Baltimore.
The investment from his Inflation Reduction Act includes $147 million in grants for the Port of Baltimore to decarbonize its cargo handling operations, the White House said in a statement.
The president also planned to express support for longshore union members concerned about automation taking away their jobs, a key issue in a three-day strike at East and Gulf Coast ports earlier this month.
“This funding will protect and create good-paying and union jobs and better working conditions by upgrading port operations and infrastructure to cleaner equipment, while ensuring cleaner air for port workers and nearby communities,” the White House said in a news release.
The federal funds will help purchase “battery-electric and hydrogen-powered human-operated and human-maintained equipment,” according to the Biden administration. U.S. ports are the “lynchpin of our nation’s supply chains,” and employ 100,000 union workers, the statement added.
Mr. Biden is set to announce the initiative around 2 p.m. Eastern time.
