• The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) recently awarded $22 million in grant funding for the Ortega construction project in the Summerland area, a regional project that will allow for more passenger train trips, according to a statement from Santa Barbara County 1st District Supervisor Das Williams’ office. The grant awards were a part of the overall $1.3 billion in funding announced by CalSTA—which supports the second busiest intercity passenger rail corridor in the United States and the second-busiest state-supported Amtrak route. The Ortega siding project will create operational flexibility in a critical coastal section of the rail corridor, according to Williams’ office. Current single-tracking alignment does not allow for bi-directional movement, restricting trains’ ability to pass one another. This has meant trains are held in Santa Barbara or at Seacliff. “The Ortega siding project will lay the groundwork for additional passenger rail trips to Santa Barbara County—literally,” Williams said in the statement. “By creating additional capacity in the rail corridor, it will allow for a seventh daily Pacific Surfliner trip between San Diego and Goleta and a third daily trip between San Diego and San Luis Obispo.”
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will award more than $1 billion across seven California ports to build zero-emission infrastructure and implement climate and air quality management plans, according to an Oct. 29 statement from Padilla’s office. This investment comes from the EPA’s Clean Ports Program, which is funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and aims to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality at ports across the nation. California ports will receive three of the largest seven grants nationwide, including more than $411 million at the Port of Los Angeles—the biggest award in the country. California’s ports play an important role in the nation’s economy, moving hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods annually, according to the senator’s office. These ports process about 40 percent of all containerized imports and 30 percent of all exports in the United States. “California’s ports move the goods that power our economy. This historic investment in our ports is a major step forward in accelerating the zero-emission infrastructure transition,” Padilla said in the statement. “With more than a billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act funding headed to California, we’re decarbonizing our supply chain to produce cleaner air in neighboring communities and meet our climate goals while creating green jobs.”
• Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated the U.S. Department of Commerce’s selection of California to be the headquarters for the new National Semiconductor Technology Center, according to a Nov. 1 statement from Newsom’s office. The new site, known as the Design and Collaboration Facility, will be one of three CHIPS for America research and design facilities and will also operate as the headquarters of Natcast, the nonprofit entity designated by the Department of Commerce to operate the National Semiconductor Technology Center. The new headquarters facility will lower the barriers to semiconductor prototyping, experimentation, and other research and design activities that will support America’s global strength and leadership in design, materials, and process innovation while enabling a vibrant domestic industry, according to Newsom’s office. The facility is expected to drive more than $1 billion in research funding and create more than 200 direct jobs over the next 10 years. “California has long been a leader in global technology and future-thinking innovation. With our state’s global talent pool, world-leading universities and research institutions, and top technology companies, it is no surprise California was selected,” Newsom said in the statement. “We often say the future happens here first, and thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s announcement, California will continue to shape the coming decades across the most critical sectors of our economy and national security.”
This article appears in Nov 14-24, 2024.