32.9 F
Indianapolis
Saturday, February 8, 2025

Indiana Alliance pushes for equity in EV infrastructure plan

HANNA RAUWORTH
HANNA RAUWORTH
Hanna Rauworth is the Health & Environmental Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, where she covers topics at the intersection of public health, environmental issues, and community impact. With a commitment to storytelling that informs and empowers, she strives to highlight the challenges and solutions shaping the well-being of Indianapolis residents.

More by this author

The Indiana Alliance for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities has called for a more equitable approach to the Indiana Department of Transportation’s (INDOT) National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) plan.

The comments submitted by the alliance, a coalition of over 25 statewide Black organizations, underscore their efforts to advocate for a more equitable EV infrastructure plan in Indiana.

“While the Alliance is pleased that INDOT plans to issue a Justice40 Draft Implementation Plan, we are disappointed that none of the Federal Highway Administration’s equity requirements were met for the present plan,” David Green, alliance member, said in a press release.

Indiana State Conference NAACP
Electric vehicles charge at Tesla Super Charger station in the Circle Centre Mall parking garage. The Indiana Alliance for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities formed to ensure the Black community is involved with the electric vehicle infrastructure planning. (Photo/Abriana Herron)

The Alliance’s comments focused on the following areas:

  • Public engagement: “In the Public Outreach section, INDOT also highlights a Stakeholder Collaboration Workshop that it says, ‘laid the groundwork for inclusive decision-making and ongoing collaboration, aligning with the Justice40 vision for program development.’ Considering that the goal of the Justice40 Initiative is to ensure that the communities who have been historically marginalized and underinvested have meaningful access to engagement in government processes and resultant resources, it is problematic that this event was held one time, in one location, and in the middle of the workday.”
  • Equitable Access: “Reflecting INDOT’s top-down approach, the Plan indicates that after conducting ‘careful evaluation of the federal guidance,’ INDOT identified ‘equitable access’ as a program goal. This reading of FHWA guidance fails to acknowledge the full scope of benefits provided by this program and limits the ability of all Hoosiers to benefit from the health and economic benefits beyond equitable access, especially for Black Hoosiers who have historically been harmed by transportation infrastructure implementation.”
  • Health and Economic Benefits: “INDOT must not wait until Indiana’s Alternative Fuel Corridors are fully built out before making it a priority to ensure underserved, disadvantaged, and Black communities are benefiting from the health and economic benefits of this program. It must engage our communities now, to remedy the harms we have already and continue to suffer from inequitable distribution of publicly funded projects.”
  • Site Selection: “Further, the contracting plan does not incorporate equity concerns or solutions, whatsoever, in its rubric for site selection, despite its declaration that “INDOT has and will continue to promote the use of small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses throughout implementation of the program.” The Alliance has repeatedly called on INDOT to prioritize local businesses, carbon-neutral businesses, and nonprofit organizations that will serve as meaningful, long-term stewards of Indiana’s climate and economic resiliency.”
  • Transparency of Process: “As previously mentioned, equity requirements under the FHWA guidance states: ‘[t]o ensure [disadvantaged community] priorities are being represented in the State Plans, States should provide detail in their Plans regarding the groups they met with and show how the input of these groups was used to inform the development of the State Plan.’ Throughout this section of the Plan, when discussing its identification and outreach to disadvantaged communities and its process for identifying, qualifying, and measuring benefits, you make reference to events and surveys conducted from 2022 to 2024, as well as future events in 2024. However, for each completed survey or event, the Plan fails to provide details about which disadvantaged communities or organizations you met with or surveyed, what feedback was received from each of those communities and organizations in the survey or meetings, and how their input was used to inform the development of this Plan.”

The alliance concluded their comments by stating they are committed to working with INDOT to advance these goals and help Indiana set an electric vehicle precedent for other states to follow.

 Contact Health & Environmental Reporter Hanna Rauworth at 317-762-7854 or follow her on Instagram at @hanna.rauworth.

- Advertisement -

Upcoming Online Townhalls

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest local news.

Stay connected

1FansLike
1FollowersFollow
1FollowersFollow
1SubscribersSubscribe

Related articles

Popular articles

Español + Translate »
Skip to content