California Adopts First Zero-Emission Refrigerated Fleet Rules

California will be first U.S. state to replace all diesel-fueled refrigerated trucks with zero emission units, after new standards won approval Thursday from the state’s Air Resources Board.

The resolution, approved by a 13-0 vote, is designed to make all diesel-fueled truck transport refrigeration units emissions free by 2030, well ahead of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)’s 2035 goal.

Financial incentives of more than $850 million and a regulatory framework will deliver $1.75 billion in health benefits and reduce carbon dioxide by more than 1.4 million metric tons by 2034, according to the board’s analysis.

The vote to adopt the plan and its amendments is “historic,” said Yasmine Agelidis, an attorney from the environmental law firm Earthjustice.

“This is the first regulation of its kind in California and across the country,” she said. “It really can and should set a trend elsewhere.”

Reducing Risks

She and other representatives from environmental nonprofits and labor unions said the proposal will reduce health risks for communities near transport unit facilities and achieve statewide regional air standards while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Implementing the plan could create “high road careers and apprenticeship opportunities in multiple industries,” Joseph Sullivan of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 11, said at the meeting.

Despite the unanimous vote, some air board members shared concerns before the vote. Vice Chair Sandra Berg said that delivering financial rewards as tradeable credits is “unreasonable” because it expects single owner-operators to sell them on the open market.

“We are making it seem easy, but it is not,” Berg said.

Board member Tania Pacheco-Werner called the website that outlines the incentives “confusing.”

Organizations such as the Association of American Railroads, BNSF Railway, and Union Pacific Railroad Co. submitted comments to the board calling components of the rule “unrealistic” and “unclear.”