What's New List Serve Post Display

What's New List Serve Post Display

Below is the List Serve Post you selected to display.
newsrel -- ARB diesel cleanup program removes tons of air pollutants from busy trade corridors

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 13:48:48
Proposition 1B funds cleanup trucks, trains and ports
. 

News Release 
For Immediate Release

Release #:11-07
Date:1/24/2011

ARB PIO: 626-575-6728
CONTACT: Karen Caesar
kcaesar@arb.ca.gov

ARB diesel cleanup program removes tons of air pollutants from
busy trade corridors

Proposition 1B funds cleanup trucks, trains and ports

Sacramento –  A broad range of projects targeting freight
transport, funded by state bond money and administered by the Air
Resources Board and air districts, has slashed emissions along
trade corridors and near ports, cutting pollution from trucks,
trains and ships, the ARB announced today.

More than 5300 diesel trucks traveling the state’s busiest trade
routes are being cleaned up, 19 locomotives operating in the
Central Valley and Southern California are being upgraded, and
clean electrical power will be available this spring for ships
docking at the Port of Oakland thanks to $250 million as part of
implementation of ARB’s Goods Movement Emission Reduction
Program.  The program is supported by $1 billion in
voter-approved Proposition 1B bonds, of which $450 million has
already been allocated.

“These ambitious efforts are improving our air quality as well as
the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Californians who
live near major diesel pollution sources such as busy highways,
ports and railyards,” said ARB Executive Officer James Goldstene.
 “We estimate that these projects will eliminate more than 3
million pounds of diesel soot plus 60 million pounds of
smog-forming pollutants from our environment over the next few
years.” 

Goldstene added that the Goods Movement Emission Reduction
Program bond monies are leveraging substantial matching funds
from private, local and federal sources – more than one match
dollar for every program dollar invested.  This leveraging has
resulted in an additional $300 million above and beyond the Prop
1B bond funds to aid in overseeing pollution reduction projects
through to their completion within the next few years.

To update the 5300 trucks -- including those that service the
state’s busiest ports -- older trucks have been replaced with new
diesel models or those powered by natural gas meeting cleaner
2007 or later emission standards.

In the four targeted trade corridors (Bay Area, Central Valley,
Los Angeles/Inland Empire, San Diego/Border), most equipment
owners opted to replace their trucks.  However, in the Bay Area,
a majority of the port truck owners chose to retrofit their
vehicles with diesel soot filters that trap at least 85 percent
of particulate emissions. 

In a shift from many previous programs, one-third of the trucks
that received program funding are owned by independent
owner-operators, and half of the funded vehicles are in fleets of
20 or fewer trucks, considered in California to be a small or
medium-sized fleet.

Additional cleanup activities focusing on installing clean
electric power for ships at dock will get underway as air
districts start soliciting for over $80 million in projects in
early 2011.  The Board allocated an additional $112 million for
more truck cleanup efforts, with smaller grants to be available
to clean up locomotives and harbor craft such as tug boats.

ARB’s Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program is dedicated to
quickly reducing air pollution and health risk from freight
movement along California’s trade corridors.  In a partnership
with local agencies including air districts and seaports,
competitive financial incentives are offered to owners of
equipment used in freight transport to upgrade to cleaner
technologies.  Projects funded under this program must achieve
early or extra emission reductions not otherwise required by law
or regulation.

Diesel exhaust contains a variety of harmful gases and over 40
other known cancer-causing compounds. In 1998, California
identified diesel particulate matter as a toxic air contaminant
based on its potential to cause cancer, premature death and other
health problems. 

For more information on ARB’s Goods Movement Emission Reduction
Program, please visit:  http://www.arb.ca.gov/gmbond


The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.

# # # # #

ARB What's New

preload