The Port of Long Beach supports California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) new guidelines, which reflect and complement the San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan, which was updated in 2017.
CARB’s measures will support efforts to bring cleaner locomotives to the port’s region and mandate zero-emissions trucks by 2035, and the CAAP’s initiatives will bolster efforts and provide better air to all Californians.
Under the In-Use Locomotive Regulation, operators will now be required to pay into a spending account, and the amount will be determined by the emissions they create while operating in California. Companies will be able to use the funds to upgrade to cleaner locomotive technologies. Locomotives also will have a 30-minute idling limit. Additionally, switch, industrial and passenger locomotives built in 2030 or after will be required to operate in zero-emissions configurations while in California, and in 2035 for freight line haul.
Emissions reductions from the new regulation are expected to be equal to almost double those emitted by all passenger vehicles in the state between now and 2050. It is projected that the In-Use Locomotive Regulation will contribute the largest reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions toward meeting California air quality standards by the 2037 deadline.
Furthermore, CARB approved a rule that requires a phased-in transition toward zero-emission medium-and-heavy duty vehicles.
Known as Advanced Clean Fleets, the new rule helps put California on a path toward accomplishing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of fully transitioning the trucks that travel across the state to zero-emissions technology by 2045. The new rule is expected to generate US$26.6 billion in health savings from reduced asthma attacks, emergency room visits and respiratory illnesses. Furthermore, fleet owners will save an estimated US$48 billion in their total operating costs from the transition through 2050.
While trucks represent only 6% of the vehicles on California’s roads, they account for over 35% of the state’s transportation generated nitrogen oxide emissions and a quarter of the state’s on-road greenhouse gas emissions. California communities that sit near trucking corridors and warehouse locations with heavy truck traffic have some of the worst air in the nation. California is set to invest almost US$3 billion between 2021 – 2025 in zero-emission trucks and infrastructure. This investment is part of a US$9 billion multi-year, multi-agency zero-emissions vehicle package to equitably decarbonize the transportation sector that was agreed upon by the Governor and the Legislature in 2021.
Under the new rule, fleet owners operating vehicles for private services such as last-mile delivery and federal fleets such as the Postal Service, along with state and local government fleets, will begin their transition toward zero-emission vehicles starting in 2024. The rule includes the ability to continue operating existing vehicles through their useful life.
Due to the impact that truck traffic has on residents living near heavily trafficked corridors, drayage trucks will need to be zero-emissions by 2035. All other fleet owners will have the option to transition a percentage of their vehicles to meet expected zero-emission milestones, which gives owners the flexibility to continue operating combustion-powered vehicles as needed during the move toward cleaner technology.
“The California Air Resources Board’s recent actions to improve the air we breathe by requiring cleaner locomotives and zero-emissions heavy-duty vehicles in the state are welcome and needed steps by the state’s top air quality regulator”, stated Mario Cordero, executive director from Port of Long Beach.
The Port of Long Beach said it will continue to invest in and work on building clean air technologies and networks that will assist this state and the San Pedro Bay ports in making these environmental sustainability improvements.
