Port NOLA gets $1M EPA grant to support LIT

Written by Nick Blenkey
Port NOLA gets EPA LIT grant

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) reports that it has been awarded $1,000,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its Louisiana International Terminal (LIT) Sustainability Management Plan (SMP).

The Louisiana International Terminal will be built in Violet, Louisiana, 17 miles downriver from the Crescent City Connection bridge, eliminating air draft restrictions for vessels that call Port NOLA. The terminal will be able to handle the largest container vessels that traverse the Panama Canal locks dramatically increasing Louisiana’s import and export capacity, fostering strategic inland growth and allowing both container-on-barge and intermodal services to expand.

The Port NOLA LIT SMP will follow the Envision framework developed by the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure to achieve sustainable, resilient, and equitable infrastructure.

The EPA grant delivers funds to three community-based organizations to help equitably provide workforce development and educational opportunities for the Violet and St. Bernard Parish communities that will relate to LIT’s future careers and sustainability outcomes. Of the $1,000,000 grant, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED) will receive $100,000 to support professional development for local communities around sustainability education; Nunez Community College will receive $100,000 for port-sector educational programs; and the Urban League of Louisiana (ULLA) will receive $225,000 for workforce development. An additional $100,000 will be used for Envision programming; $352,341 will go toward contractual support; and $122,659 will be allocated for Port NOLA administration and project events.

“We want to thank the EPA and our federal delegation for this funding and for their ongoing support of the Louisiana International Terminal,” said Port NOLA president & CEO Beth Branch. “Port NOLA is committed to engaging the local community and protecting quality of life for Violet and St. Bernard Parish, as well as delivering a transformational project that will provide opportunities and economic prosperity for all Louisianians.”

LIT will be built through a historic public-private partnership between Port NOLA and two private terminal operators. New Jersey-based Ports America, North America’s largest marine terminal operator, and Geneva, Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, through its terminal development and investment arm, Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), have committed $800 million toward the project.

LIT is currently in the federal permitting process. Construction is expected to begin in 2025.

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