Title
Approving an EPA grant application to expand the EV Spot Network and Evie Carshare.
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WHEREAS, the Saint Paul Climate Action and Resilience Plan set a goal of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 and down to zero by 2050, and emphasizes the need to ensure that vulnerable and disadvantaged communities benefit from the City’s work to reduce climate pollution; and
WHEREAS as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created the Climate Pollution Reduction program, a one-time grant program that aims to invest in projects that can substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring that disadvantaged and environmental justice communities’ benefit from those reductions; and
WHEREAS in order to be eligible for an implementation grant under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, the City of Saint Paul’s proposed projects must be included in either the State of Minnesota’s or the Metropolitan Council’s Priority Climate Action Plans; and
WHEREAS both the State of Minnesota and the Metropolitan Council Priority Climate Action Plans identify activities that include accelerating the transition to low- and no-carbon fuels in vehicles and equipment; and increasing the availability and adoption of clean travel options; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul partnered with the City of Minneapolis, HOURCAR, Xcel Energy, and others to create the country’s first and largest municipally-owned electric carshare program, Evie, and the EV Spot charging network, and the program has been successful and very highly utilized as a new form of 100% renewably powered, affordable clean transportation, with more than 40% of Evie usage in 2023 coming from qualified lower-income carshare members and more than 40% of usage in 2023 by BIPOC carshare members, and Evie Carshare and the EV Spot network are significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and
WHEREAS, the Cities of Saint Paul and ...
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