The South Coast Air Quality Management District will shell out funding for 483 natural gas-fueled trucks to replace old diesels serving the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles
. The new trucks are expected to use approximately 3.6 million gasoline gallon equivalents of natural gas fuel per year once fully deployed.

SCAQMD is funding the program on behalf of the California Air Resources Board and the ports. The funding is provided by the Proposition 1B Program of the state of California and by the SCAQMD and the ports. The program supports the ports' Clean Air Action Plan, which seeks to replace the fleet of older diesel trucks servicing the ports with new clean trucks.

Funding has already gone toward replacing 400 old diesel trucks with new natural gas-fueled trucks. The natural gas-fueled trucks reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, toxic diesel particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides.

"This funding increases the deployment of natural gas trucks in the Southern California goods movement corridors emanating from the ports, helping clean the air and improve public health throughout the region," said Andrew Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which recently opened a liquefied natural gas truck fueling station at the Port of Long Beach. "We are working to support these goals by expanding the convenient supply of natural gas fuel for the new trucks."