(The Center Square) – The Maricopa County Air Quality Department is being allocated $15 million in federal taxpayer dollars for electric vehicle charging stations that will be publicly available.
The funds are coming through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, specifically the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.
Proponents of the award say that it a greater emphasis on electric vehicles will help improve air quality efforts.
“I’m incredibly proud to deliver $15 million to strengthen Maricopa County’s electric vehicle charging network through my bipartisan infrastructure law. This investment is another step towards a cleaner, healthier, and safer Arizona,” Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said in a statement.
Maricopa County in particular in under tight air quality standards from government regulators as it is considered a “nonattainment” area, according to the Environmental Protection Agency as of last month. The stations are expected to be at places where there are a minimum of 50 workers and are part of the Maricopa County Travel Reduction Program, which started in 1989, according to the county.
In total, the program was granted $521 million for an electric vehicle charging network nationwide. According to a news release, the funding was spent across 29 states and marked a “deployment” of over nine thousand charging stations.
“As we build out the EV charging network on our highways, we are also investing in local communities, rural, urban and tribal alike,” United States Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg said in a statement last month. “Today’s grants are a critical part of ensuring every American can find a charger as easily as a gas station, which will decrease pollution from our roadways, lower costs for families, and help people get to where they need to go efficiently.”
The Center Square reported that funding from the infrastructure legislation, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act, continued to be allocated as the one-time funding carried a hefty price tag north of a trillion dollars.