EPA’s strict new rules for heavy-duty trucks spark strong Southern California responses

Rule will “avoid 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions” and help reduce medical costs from environment-related illnesses, according to EPA

Source: Los Angeles Daily News

New Environmental Protection Agency rules and deadlines for heavy-duty trucks and buses were announced Friday, March 29, and quickly drew mixed reviews in Southern Californian, where trucks stream around the clock from bustling ports to burgeoning waves of inland warehouses.

The EPA rolled out the new strict standards in what is an ongoing, unprecedented push to rid the environment of pollutants. Officials said the rules will help clean some of the nation’s largest sources of greenhouse gases.

Under the new EPA rule, 30% of “very” heavy-duty trucks need to be zero emission by 2032. Forty percent of short-haul trucks will need to transition by that time.

In February, an event showcased a trucking company’s Ontario-based fleet of electric-powered drayage trucks, funded in part by a state government and pollution-fighting public agencies. NFI’s trucks are expected to offset 4,400 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

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Funding Partners

JETSI is jointly financed by California Air Resources Board and California Energy Commission ($26.98 million), MSRC ($8 million), and South Coast AQMD ($5.4 million), with an additional $21.7 million from Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles, Southern California Edison, NFI, and Schneider. JETSI is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment, particularly in disadvantaged communities.