Northwest Indiana stands to benefit from a federal multi-year plan to promote the use of electric vehicles along the nation's busiest trucking routes.
The National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, announced by the White House on Tuesday, identifies high-traffic roadways where the installation of electric vehicle charging and hydrogen fueling stations will yield the greatest environmental and economic benefit. The over 300-page road map was developed by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), who worked with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The strategy will be implemented in four phases, beginning this year and concluding in 2040, when the Biden administration has set a goal of replacing 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles on the market with zero-emission versions.
Phase one, which will be implemented between 2024 and 2027, involves establishing priority hub areas based on freight volume data, from 2024 to 2027. As part of phase one's rollout, 12,000 miles of highways have been designated priorities for zero-emission vehicle infrastructure. A length of Interstate 80 running from Illinois through Indiana to the East Coast will be among the affected roadways.
Burns Harbor is set to become a "zero-emission freight hub" during phase three of the plan, which will begin in 2030.
The strategy does not include new plans for federal spending, instead functioning as a framework for the distribution of private investment and existing federal funds set aside by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“This is a big move to deliver environmental justice — 75% of heavy truck traffic travels on just 4% of our nation’s roads, jeopardizing the health of our most vulnerable communities,” Biden administration climate advisor Ali Zaidi said in a statement. “President Biden’s historic investments in zero-emission infrastructure on those high-traffic roads and the hubs they connect will rapidly transform freight transport in the U.S. and strengthen American innovation.”
Environmental groups lauded the plan as an important step in the fight against pollution and human-made climate change.
"Cleaning up dirty trucks is essential for the Biden administration to deliver on its air quality, public health, and climate commitments," Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All Director Katherine Establishing zero-emission freight hubs and corridors will help achieve cleaner air for the communities that need it most and break away from the legacy of a polluting goods movement in the US.
In a social media post, the Midwest-based Environmental Law and Policy Center wrote that the White House plan "will help electrify the freight trucks polluting Chicagoland... and help #EV school buses too!"
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