Bill Mongelluzzo, Associate Editor | Jan 19, 2012 1:40PM EST
Clean truck programs implemented by the Port of Oakland and the California Air Resources Board have cut harmful diesel emissions in the harbor area by 40 to 50 percent, according to the Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies.
Diesel particulate matter emissions declined by about 50 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions dropped by 40 percent since November 2009. Robert Harley, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California-Berkeley, said emissions should continue to decline through 2013, when all drayage trucks must have 2007 or newer model year engines.
Trucks that meet federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for 2007 reduce pollution by more than 80 percent. At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which have the toughest air emission standards in the nation, all 11,000 drayage trucks now meet the EPA standards.
The Oakland and CARB regulations have been phasing out older trucks since 2009. First to go were the gross polluters of model years 1993 or older.
Operators of trucks with model year 1994 to 2004 were required to retrofit their vehicles with diesel particulate traps. The filters will be required on 2005-06 trucks at the end of 2012.
-- Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @billmongelluzzo.