Posts Tagged: trucks

News

From diesel big rigs to electricity: The costly transition begins

A pair of all-electric big-rig trucks, built by Tesla, are ready for the road. (Photo: Steve Jurvetson, via Wikipedia)

Never mind there are few on the market, or that keeping them moving requires a nonexistent network of chargers, California wants truckers to hurry up and replace diesel big rigs with versions that run on batteries or hydrogen. Regulations to achieve the transitions are not yet complete. The California Air Resources Board is gathering public opinion on the latest iteration and a subsequent draft is anticipated in the spring.

News

Note to industry: Electric trucks save lives

An electric big-rig tractor-trailer truck. (Photo: Union of Concerned Scientists)

OPINION: Polluters never miss an opportunity to exploit a crisis for financial gain — and the coronavirus crisis is no exception. As millions of Americans hunker down in their homes, sacrificing their incomes to save lives, truck manufacturers are endangering people in my community by lobbying for delays to the nation’s first electric truck standard, which would slash toxic air pollution from trucks.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly podcast: Bill Magavern

Bill Magavern of the Coalition for Clean Air. (Photo: Tim Foster)

Welcome to 2018, which the Coalition for Clean Air’s Bill Magavern has dubbed “The Year of the Truck.” Magavern, a veteran environmental advocate, joins us for our first Capitol Weekly Podcast of 2018. There’s new legislation out there (SB 210 from state Sen. Connie Leyva) introducing clean air rules for big trucks, which — surprise! —  do not have to undergo the same types of smog checks that have been required for passenger vehicles for many years.

News

California throttles down small-engine pollution

A landscaping worker trims a bush with a gas-powered machine while a technician monitors the air quality for FairWarning. (Photo: Stuart Silverstein)

New California rules aimed at curbing the surprising amount of pollution coming from leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other small gas-powered machines cleared a final hurdle Monday, and are set to take effect on Jan. 1. The requirements mark another step in the state’s long-running battle to reduce emissions from a category of small engines that have come to rival cars as a source of smog-forming pollution.

Analysis

Brown’s transportation budget celebrates the car

A traffic jam in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: Prayitno, Wikimedia)

Weeks after returning from the Paris summit on climate change where he was hailed as a leader in the movement to limit greenhouse gases, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a new transportation budget that celebrates the car. In 2016-17, Brown wants to spend $16 billion on transportation, and most of that would go toward making it easier for people to drive. The Democratic governor wants to build new roads and highways and repave old ones, and use more technology to speed traffic.

Opinion

January countdown: Fuel policy good for health — and wallet

Smoggy air envelops downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: Shutterstock).

OPINION: Despite strong efforts to ratchet down on smog and soot pollution, California still has some of the worst air quality in the nation and most urban areas in California continue to struggle with polluted air.

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