US President Joe Biden is now campaigning in Baltimore, near Washington DC, and reacted sharply to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s remark of Puerto Rico, people with Latinos, as a ” floating island of garbage”. Biden said the remarks were un-American and unconscionable. But the media also refers to him as allegedly further adding ” it’s the supporters of Trump who are garbage”.
While Trump reacted sharply to this saying he was labelling half of America as Garbage, VP Kamala Harris who was delivering her final campaign speech at the ellipse apparently covered up for Biden and reacted to Trump saying all that Biden said was the comedians remarks at Trump’s New York rally at the Madison Square Garden was un-American and unconscionable. She died the accusation that Biden said Trumps supporters were garbage.
The rhetoric of you said this and I did not will continue to dominate the headline in the us media for some more time until election day until both parties try to leverage on unsavoury comments to influence voters.
Meanwhile Biden said that he was raised in a community of Perto Ricans.
Biden told a Baltimore rally that his administration was award
ing nearly $3 billion to boost climate friendly equip disruption coast shipping routes for months.
The Port of Baltimore is one of the busiest with more than 20,000 workers supporting daily port operations, including unionized longshoremen and truckers.
Grants being announced Tuesday include $147 million for the Maryland Port Administration. The funds will support over 2,000 jobs by enabling the purchase and installation of cargo-handling equipment and trucks to transition the port into a zero-greenhouse-gas-emission facility.
The Maryland port is among 55 ports across 27 states and territories that will receive nearly $3 billion through the Clean Ports Program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Ports receiving money include the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority, the ports of Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, as well as Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Oakland, California.
The grants are funded by Biden’s landmark climate law approved in 2022, the largest investment in clean energy in U.S. history.
During a White House call with reporters Monday, officials said the grants also will advance environmental justice by reducing diesel air pollution from U.S. ports.
“Our ports are the backbone of our economy — critical hubs that support our supply chain, drive commerce, create jobs and connect us all,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. “But we cannot overlook the challenges faced by the communities that live and work near these ports. Too often, these communities face serious air quality challenges due to diesel pollution from trucks, ships and other port machinery.”
Protecting people and the environment “doesn’t come at the expense of a booming economy,” Biden said in an implicit rebuke to former President Donald Trump and other Republicans who have complained that strict environmental regulations hinder the economy. “In fact, healthy communities and a strong economy go hand in hand.
The grant announcements, which follow $31 million in federal funds to rehabilitate a section of Baltimore’s Dundalk Marine Terminal, come a week after the owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the deadly bridge collapse agreed to pay more than $102 million in cleanup costs to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department.
The settlement does not cover any damages for rebuilding the bridge, a project that could cost close to $2 billion. The state of Maryland has filed its own claim seeking those damages, among others.
Funding though the Clean Ports program will slash more than 3 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to energy use by nearly 400,000 homes for one year, Regan said. It also will cut 12,000 short tons of nitrogen oxides and other harmful pollutants, he said.
John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, said the grants will help fulfill a promise by Biden and Harris to “rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and tackle the climate crisis … and uplift the communities who’ve borne the brunt of pollution.”
In February, the EPA announced two separate funding opportunities for U.S. ports, a competition to directly fund zero-emission equipment and infrastructure and a separate competition for climate change and air-quality programs. More than $8 billion in requests from applicants across the country were received.
Vernice Miller-Travis, a longtime advocate for environmental justice, hailed the EPA grants, which come after years of complaints by environmental and public health leaders that harmful pollution from the nation’s ports too often was overlooked.
“What an incredible moment this is,” she said. “Fifty-five projects, almost $3 billion in funding. This is real money. And we know when you see these kinds of investments that you can really make transformation in local conditions and local operations and in people’s lives.”
Contributor, IANS - Washington DC/New York
Executive Editor, Corporate Tycoons - Pune, India
Executive Editor, The Flag Post - Bengaluru, India
Contributor, The Statesman, Hindu Business Line, Sarkaritel.com, Diplomacyindia.com
Former Economics Editor, PTI - New Delhi, India
Former Communications Advisor,
Alstom Group of Companies, SA - France/Belgium
