By Lynn La – CalMatters
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In a striking setback to reduce California’s air pollution but a win for trucking companies, state regulators have walked away from their ambitious plan to phase out diesel trucks less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
As CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo explains, in 2023 the California Air Resources Board voted to ban the sale of new diesel big rigs by 2036 and require large fleets to convert all their trucks to zero-emission models by 2042. About 1.8 million trucks operate in the state.
To enforce the ban, California needs a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (In December, for example, the Biden administration approved California’s mandate to phase out new gas-powered cars.) But on Tuesday the board withdrew its requests for approving emission standards for diesel trucks in anticipation that the Trump administration will likely reject them.
- Liane Randolph, board chairperson, in a statement: “The withdrawal is an important step given the uncertainty presented by the incoming administration that previously attacked California’s programs to protect public health and the climate and has said will continue to oppose those programs.”
Trump has repeatedly denounced the state’s electric car mandates, and during his first term tried to revoke California’s authority to limit car emissions. In October he also said no state would be allowed to ban gas-powered cars under his presidency.
Environmentalists criticized the withdrawal, including Paul Cort, the director of Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign, who argued that “diesel is one of the most dangerous kinds of air pollution for human health.”
The withdrawal follows the air board’s decision in December to pull the plug on what would have been a first-in-the-nation initiative to increase electric motorcycle sales.
This article was originally published by CalMatters.
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