Continuing to cement his environmental legacy, Gov. Jerry Brown released sweeping blue-sky plans to propel the state’s commercial trucks, ships and trains toward a zero-emissions future.
The unprecedented effort aims to reshape how cargo is moved around the state —from produce on supermarket shelves to massive ship-bourne containers unloading at Southern California ports to Amazon boxes that arrive at your doorstep.
Over the past year, planners from the state’s department of transportation, air-quality board, energy commission and Brown’s economic-development wing hammered out the Sustainable Freight Action Plan.
With this collection of 82 goals, Brown aims to make the freight-moving industry run cleaner, without sacrificing its competitive edge.
Among the goals:
•Deploy 100,000 trucks, trains and cargo-moving machines fueled by cleaner fuels or electricity by 2030;
•Launch stricter emissions regulations for trains, delivery trucks and vehicles used at airports by 2023 in a state that already boasts the nation’s toughest air-quality rules;
•Create incentive programs, marketing campaigns and even a sustainable-freight “think tank” that encourage the development of greener technology;
•Generally make the industry more efficient. The less time vehicles spend on the road, participants say, the less they pollute and the more competitive they are.
There is no overall price tag for the program. And the timetable for success is complex, reliant on disparate regulatory boards, shifting state and federal funding, the ever-changing face of the Legislature and buy-in from business leaders.
California State Transportation Agency Secretary Brian Kelly called the effort “an important benchmark in the development of a comprehensive set of state freight policies and programs.”
The effort grew from Brown’s executive order last year to develop a path for a zero-emissions freight system.
The decree pitted against one another such groups as the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, which warned strict emission caps would harm business, and the American Lung Association, which for years has declared that reducing pollutants is essential for a healthy state.
The effort also complicates the picture for an industry already facing increasing pressure on other fronts, from consumers demanding goods faster and cheaper to out-of-state competitors that don’t confront the same regulatory hurdles
California is the nation’s largest gateway for international trade. Industries dependent on the state’s rail, ships, planes and trucks accounted for $740 billion in revenue in 2014.
But the industry has long frustrated residents near freeways, distribution centers and ports. Freight equipment accounts for roughly 45 percent of smog-forming nitrogen oxide and about half of the state’s particulate emission, linked by researchers to lung ailments.
Reaction was mixed.
Adrian Martinez, a lawyer with Earthjustice, said the plan was evidence of statewide commitment to greener energies that will “allow this industry to coexist with communities living in close proximity to it.”
“We haven’t heard that stuff before out of the Department of California Transportation or GoBiz (the governor’s economic development arm),” Martinez said.
Industry leaders were wary.
“To spur innovation in zero and near-zero emission technologies, California must make a business case for new investment from the trucking industry, which is already spending $1 billion a year to bring about a more sustainable freight system,” Shawn Yadon, CEO of California Trucking Association, said in a statement.
The blueprint lays out a vision of a green California set against the backdrop of a nascent electric-vehicle industry. Until recently, electric vehicles have been limited to consumer cars. But as big rigs, trains and cargo-moving equipment come on line, California could capitalize on the new market.
“The plan is OK, but show me the money,” said Hasan Ikhrata, CEO of Southern California Association of Governments.
Much of Brown’s vision relies on money that can be leveraged from the federal government.
Earlier this year, Southern California missed out on $749 million in federal transportation funding set aside to pay for goods movement. That funding snub stalled a zero-emission crane at the Port of Los Angeles.
“The plan is good, but the question is will this make us competitive against other states in getting federal grants,” Ikhrata said.
The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, where electric-run vehicles and cargo moving equipment operate, are specifically singled out in the plan as good models for investment in green technology.
The plan could have deep ramifications down the supply chain, from how Wal-Mart shelves are stocked to which vehicles are driven by the truckers who bring in oranges and avocados from the Central Valley.
One regulation calls for requiring so-called “last- mile delivery” companies such as FedEx and UPS to purchase zero-emission fleets by 2020. An incentive program would also be included.
At this point, the plan is big on vision but lean on specifics. Next year, however, the various agencies will:
•Begin work on a funding package;
•Host a meeting of the freight “think tank”;
•And map out three pilot projects, including one along heavily congested truck routes on interstate highways 710, 10 and 15 and State Route 60.
“Plans are nice, but they mean nothing without implementation,” said Joseph Lyou, president and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air and a member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
“Our focus is going to be implementation, implementation, implementation.”