08/29/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/29/2024 14:44
Boston, Massachusetts - Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Representatives Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) announced $15 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to the City of Boston for the "Recharge Boston" project, investing in access to electric vehicle chargers in every Boston neighborhood.
The grant delivers $15 million to the City of Boston to install a minimum of 300 electric vehicle (EV) charging ports across the city, with a particular focus on environmental justice communities. EV chargers will be located to provide access in every neighborhood across the city and placed within 10-minute walking distances. The grant will also fund several city programs that will steer EV charging jobs to disadvantaged communities and disadvantaged businesses.
"Cleaner air, more sustainable transit, and good-paying jobs - clean energy investments are a win-win-win for Massachusetts. This important investment will help make sure that every neighborhood in Boston benefits from our clean energy future," said Senator Warren.
"Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Biden-Harris administration, Boston is being awarded $15 million to build charging ports for electric vehicles-a major win for the city and for environmental justice communities," said Senator Markey. "I worked on this grant program in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in order to fulfill the promise of my Community Vehicle Charging Act, and with accessible and fairly distributed public electric vehicle charging infrastructure, more communities will be able to access the economic and health benefits provided by electric vehicles and benefit from the just clean energy transition in the Commonwealth."
"I am pleased to join my Congressional colleagues to announce that an additional $15 million has been awarded to the City of Boston from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - another successful delivery of federal funds, to help improve our neighborhoods," said Representative Lynch. "This critical funding will help to improve air quality by making electric vehicles a more convenient option for city drivers. I look forward to seeing this EV infrastructure installed as a way to create jobs and accelerate the move to zero emission vehicles and a more sustainable city."
"Communities in Boston and across the Massachusetts 7th have borne the brunt of environmental injustice for far too long, and building more EV charging stations in Boston will help right those harms while also addressing climate change," said Representative Pressley, who also secured $1 million in federal community project funding for EV charging infrastructure in the City of Cambridge. "These are the intersectional investments our communities need and I am pleased to see these federal dollars coming back to the Commonwealth."
The investment is made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration's historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
In July, Senators Warren and Markey and Representatives Lynch, Pressley, and Keating announced nearly $60 million in funding for Massachusetts communities to transition to low- or zero-emission buses. This upgrade is improving bus fleets, reducing transit systems' reliance on fossil fuels, and curbing diesel-related air pollution along major transit corridors for Black, Brown, and low-income communities who are disproportionately harmed by the impacts of the climate crisis.
Senator Warren has long fought for clean energy investments. Earlier this year, Senator Warren reintroduced the BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which would authorize the Department of Transportation to distribute $500 billion over ten years to electrify and modernize public vehicles and rail and build new electric transportation infrastructure across the country, creating 1 million new jobs, saving $100 billion annually in health damages, and preventing 4,200 deaths per year from air pollution.
###