News Flash

State Puts a Deadline on Old, Dirty Diesel Trucks at Ports and Rail Yards

(December 7, 2007) - State air quality regulators are on a roll. So too will be cleaner trucks that haul cargo to and from ports and rail yards throughout California.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted unanimously today to a strict timeline that will retire the dirtiest diesel trucks that are among the worst offenders in California’s pollution crisis. This comes on the heels of a landmark action yesterday to cut the deadly pollution from ships docked at California ports. The Coalition for Clean Air (CCA) and fellow advocates closely tracked the air agency’s two-day meeting.

The new regulation forces the modernization of the fleet of “drayage” trucks that service the state’s ports and major rail yards. As a result, in just two years, deadly diesel particulate matter from these trucks will be reduced by 86% from current levels. Smog forming emissions will be reduced by 62% by 2014.

Under the rule, all pre-1994 truck engines must be retired by the end of 2009. In addition, trucks with 1994-2003 engines will need to either be replaced or retrofitted to achieve an 85% reduction in diesel particulate matter by the same deadline. By the end of 2013, all trucks servicing ports and rail yards must meet even stricter emissions standards.

Traveling the 605 Freeway to today’s CARB hearing, CCA’s Candice Kim was witness to a scene common in California: two freeway lanes jammed with smoking and creaking diesel trucks slowed by an accident. Today behind the wreckage was a big rig that had toppled a freeway sound wall. The main difference this morning was that the sky was a backdrop of rainclouds rather than smog.

“This rule may not solve the traffic jam, but it’s going to make a huge dent in the deadly diesel pollution from all these trucks,” said Kim, who helped strengthen the rule during its development by closing loopholes and calling for quicker timelines.

Indeed, ports are a growing source of truck traffic and congestion. Some 20,000 trucks serve the major ports and rail yards in the state, and the volume of cargo coming through California ports is projected to triple by 2025.

Carlos Prinzen, a truck driver and lifetime resident of Wilmington, testified: “I remember when my neighborhood smelled like the ocean, and now it just smells. This problem has always been put on the back of the working man. I am saying to the companies, let’s share the burden.”

CCA’s Kim is proud to endure the truck traffic to advocate for clean air at the sprawling ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where most of the drayage fleet operates. “I want to protect public health, and the fight against air pollution is a fight for our lives,” she said. CARB estimates that the truck regulation passed today will prevent 1,200 premature deaths in the next 12 years.

CCA has been at the forefront in the battle against truck pollution. As a leading member of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports (http://www.cleanandsafeports.org/), CCA is calling for policies that increase security at our ports, improve working conditions for truck drivers, and put drivers behind the cleanest truck technology available.

A recent study by the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports and NRDC (http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/driving/contents.asp) showed that truck drivers are at particular risk. Measurements of diesel pollution inside truck cabs indicated a cancer risk to drivers “double the level considered acceptable by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and up to 2,000 times greater than the level typically considered acceptable by state and federal environmental protection agencies.”

In passing the phase-out of old trucks, regulators promised to direct the lion’s share of bond funding available to help make cleaner trucks available. CCA has been active in shaping the criteria which will guide the spending of $3 billion in port and freight related funds that were approved by California voters in November, $1 billion of which will go directly toward air quality. Container fees, for which CCA has lead the three-year fight, were identified by CARB as important potential funding sources to help turn over these trucks.

All 14 of California’s ports are included in the rule. Affected intermodal rail yards are: Oakland Union Pacific (UP) and Oakland Burlington (BNSF); Hobart BNSF; LATC UP; Commerce UP; Commerce Eastern BNSF; Richmond BNSF; ICTF UP; San Bernardino; Stockton Intermodal BNSF; and Lathrop Intermodal UP.

In response to Coalition for Clean Air (CCA) and other advocates, CARB board members asked the staff to include the Fresno rail yard in this rule.

For detailed information, see CARB’s information on the rule:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2007/drayage07/drayage07.htm

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