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


More than 5,300 diesel trucks traveling the state's busiest trade routes are being cleaned up, CARB says, thanks to its 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. Not all of it is for trucks; some goes to locomotive and stationary diesel engines.

""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," said "CARB Executive Officer James Goldstene.

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.

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