California air regulators target big-rig pollution
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California's Air Resources board released draft rules on Friday aimed at curbing pollution from the more than 1 million trucks that shuttle goods along state roads.
The air board will vote Dec. 11 on whether to adopt two rules, which would address diesel emissions that contribute to asthma, cancer and heart disease.
The first would force California trucks and big rigs crossing the state to install filters or upgrade their engines to reduce particulate pollution, while the second would require the use of existing technology to reduce greenhouse gases. The rules are scheduled to take effect 2010.
Diesel truck transport from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the state's agricultural industry in the San Joaquin Valley is the second largest source of nitrogen oxide emissions and toxic particulates.
While Southern California ports recently banned older trucks, San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles areas cannot meet federal air quality standards without stricter truck emission rules, air officials said.
Truckers and agribusiness interests have argued it is too expensive for truckers to invest the money in clean vehicles when gas prices are high and the economy is weakening.
But Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols said the state is offering industry more than $1 billion in loans and grants to help defray the costs. Nichols said the rules would "improve both public health and the economy, especially when you account for the reduced health care costs thanks to fewer hospital visits, mortalities and work days lost caused by exposure to big-rig diesel exhaust."
