The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a $1.34 million grant for a Port of Long Beach project to deploy cleaner cargo-handling equipment at its container terminals.

The funds will help two terminals, Piers A and J, to retrofit 11 rubber-tired gantry cranes with diesel particulate filters or exhaust treatment technologies. The grant also will allow the future Middle Harbor terminal to fund five yard tractors to run on electricity instead of diesel.

Piers A and J are operated by SSA Terminals. Middle Harbor will be operated by Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT), currently at Pier F. The total project cost is $3.98 million with the terminal operators picking up $2.64 million of the bill.

More at the Port of Long Beach web site