At a time when Californians’ lungs are under assault from smog, smoke, soot and respiratory infections, the Air Resources Board today did more to reduce air pollution than it had in over a decade.
The Board unanimously approved 2 major rules to reduce emissions of toxic diesel exhaust:
- The truck omnibus rule, which will slash pollution coming from all new trucks sold in the state, beginning in 2024;
- The ships-at-berth rule, which will protect public health in port communities (including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Richmond, San Diego and Stockton) by requiring ocean-going vessels to plug in to shoreside power instead of burning diesel fuel, or to otherwise capture their emissions.
Approval of these two measures will save over 4,000 lives and almost $40 billion in health costs.
CARB still has more work to do clean up goods movement in California; we urge the Board to move quickly to require commercial fleets to buy zero-emission trucks, move transport refrigeration units to pollution-free operations, and establish the smog check type of inspection and maintenance program for trucks required by last year’s SB 210 (Leyva).
Read more on these decisions at the California Air Resources Board in this Los Angeles Times article.