Clean trucks, clean air, clean ports - SCAQMD funds next round of old truck replacements.
California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District has approved more than $34 million in state and federal grants to replace nearly 600 dirty diesel trucks operating at the ports and in other goods movement activities throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area, known as the Southland, with new, lower-emission models. The grants include $13.17 million to replace 132 diesel trucks with natural gas-fueled trucks used in goods movement activities. “Replacing these diesel trucks with lower-emission models will help reduce the cancer risk to residents exposed to diesel fumes near freeways, ports and warehouses,” said William A. Burke, Ed.D., chairman of AQMD’s Governing Board.
Funding comes from voter-approved Proposition 1B which provides funds to replace older diesel trucks servicing the ports with new diesel or natural gas-powered trucks. Additional funding for natural gas trucks comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Since November 2009, AQMD has awarded more than $100 million to replace older diesel trucks operating in the Southland, the majority of which were operating as “drayage” trucks hauling containers between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and nearby rail yards. Heavy-duty trucks are one of the largest sources of smog-forming nitrogen oxides in Southern California.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Print 
PDF 