The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Southern California air regulators nearly $500 million in federal funding to electrify the region’s bustling goods movement, the largest grant the federal agency has ever awarded to combat air pollution.
The EPA announced Monday it will dole out nearly $4.3 billion in climate grants — funded by the Biden administration’s sweeping Inflation Reduction Act. The largest allocation went to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the agency tasked with reducing air pollution in the smoggiest air basin in the nation.
The air district had previously applied for federal funding to help deploy more zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure to haul cargo across Greater Los Angeles. Its plan focuses on providing incentives to businesses purchasing battery-electric cargo trucks, delivery vehicles and switcher locomotives (trains that assemble and disassemble lines of rail cars).
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By transitioning away from diesel-powered engines, the incentives will reduce more than 12 million metric tons of carbon emissions and avoid burning more than 1 billion gallons of fuel from 2025 to 2050, according to estimates. Lawmakers and environmental regulators said the investments will also help improve air quality in communities like Commerce, where residents who visit Bandini Park play in the shadow of the 710 Freeway and a sprawling rail yard.
“We shouldn’t have to choose between being a pivotal part of our nation’s economy and having clean air for our children to breathe,” U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla said Monday at the park, as semitrucks roared on the highway. “We can do both. We must do both. The $500 million that we’re celebrating today, that’s why it’s such a big deal. It’s going to make an extraordinary impact on decarbonizing the heavy-duty sectors.”
The announcement of the historic funding followed a ceremony where officials from the EPA and the local air district signed a slate of new clean air commitments — signaling a renewed willingness to cooperate after more than two years of quarreling over Southern California’s noncompliance with federal smog rules.
The EPA has been on the verge of disapproving the air district’s plan to meet federal air quality standards, a move that would have led to severe economic sanctions, potentially jeopardizing Los Angeles’ efforts to host the 2028 Olympics.
For its part, the air district consistently told the EPA it was impossible to meet federal smog standards without stricter regulation for planes, trains, interstate trucks and cargo ships — all of which are regulated by the EPA.
To fend off those penalties, air district officials decided to withdraw the region’s smog plan, which they hope will create more time to comply with federal standards.
L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties received a failing grade on air quality from the American Lung Assn. Again.
State and local regulators are also still waiting on the EPA to approve at least nine clean air rules enacted by the California Air Resources Board, which require a federal waiver before they can go into effect.
“We’re fortunate that the [rules] really represent some really innovative and ingenious thinking on the part of the California Air Resources Board,” said Joseph Goffman, deputy assistant administrator at the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “And so we’re taking extra special care to make sure that when we announce our decisions, those decisions are based on a really solid technical and legal foundation.”
Ahead of the tumultuous presidential election, environmental groups have become increasingly concerned about the fate of California’s climate rules, which may face more legal scrutiny and potentially an adversarial second Trump presidency.
Padilla said the newly announced climate funding is “as protected as it can be.” Yet he emphasized the importance of this election for the environment.
“If what we’ve seen from the Republican majority of the House of Representatives this session is any indicator, you can’t take anything for granted,” Padilla said.
The landmark rule from South Coast AQMD would phase out more than 1 million natural gas-powered appliances, including those that heat swimming pools and hot tubs, and require them to be replaced with electric water heaters.
