California company approves warehouse rule for air high quality – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

LOS ANGELES – (AP) – Air quality regulators in Southern California passed a ruling on Friday that will cut diesel emissions from thousands of trucks moving goods from the region’s growing number of massive warehouses operated by Amazon and other companies should be.

The areas around the facilities are exposed to increased pollution, which affects most of the minorities.

The so-called storage rule was approved by the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District at 9: 4.

A points-based system is introduced in which around 3,000 distribution centers have to choose from a menu of options for reducing or offsetting emissions. These include, for example, replacing diesel trucks and other equipment with electric models, installing solar panels on the roof, or installing air filters in nearby schools or daycare centers.

“Warehouse operators could create and implement a custom plan specific to their location or pay a reduction fee,” the proposal said. The fees would be used to fund similar air quality improvements in the surrounding neighborhoods.

South Coast district officials said they acted to meet smog reduction deadlines in 2023 and 2031.

The air quality management district said in a socio-economic impact assessment report earlier this year that the regulations would provide $ 2.7 billion in public health benefits from 2022 to 2031 – including 5,800 fewer asthma attacks and 300 fewer deaths.

Environmental and activist groups praised the vote, saying it would reduce pollution while creating clean energy jobs locally.

The rule “is the first step in eliminating toxic emissions from one of the largest and most profitable industries in the country,” says a joint statement by the Sierra Club, Earth Justice, the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice and the Working Family Partnership.

“California is blinking through the smog and planning a better future for our lungs,” said Adrian Martinez of Earthjustice. “The health benefits will be immense, but the indirect source rule is just the beginning. The way we move goods.” This country needs to be electric to ensure clean air and a breathable future. “

However, the Los Angeles County Business Federation said the rule constitutes an unapproved job loss tax, calling the Air Quality Management District’s action “irresponsible” and “travesty”.

“Employees have told the board that this rule and tax will cut tens of thousands of jobs with no evidence that emissions will actually be reduced,” the group said. “In addition, these job losses have a disproportionate effect on color communities, which should also be supported by the board. This is not how public order should be designed. “

BJ Patterson, managing director of Pacific Mountain Logistics, which employs more than 65 people in a 150,000-square-foot warehouse in San Bernardino, told the Los Angeles Times he was unsure of which of the compliance options his company would choose.

Most of the forklifts used inside are already electric, he said, and he doesn’t control which trucks are entering and exiting.

The decision to pay the mitigation fees would cost his company an estimated $ 200,000 per year, he estimated.

Environmental and community groups have been campaigning for stricter regulations for years to help smog-generating nitrogen oxide-flooded neighborhoods from trucks to and from sprawling warehouse complexes owned by Amazon and other merchants in the inland region east of Los Angeles.

“These communities are often disadvantaged and people of color. So it’s part of our ongoing commitment to eradicating inequality in environmental justice as well as all regional air quality pollution, “said Wayne Nastri, Executive Officer of the South Coast District, a day before the vote.

More than 2.4 million people live within half a mile of at least one large warehouse. These areas have higher rates of asthma and heart attacks and are disproportionately black and Latin American, according to district officials.

Presentation of the proposal began after board members honored clean air innovator William A. Burke, who is retiring after 23 years as chairman.

“Today is historic. It couldn’t be a better day to go home, ”said Burke.