The California Air Resources Board, or CARB, has updated a draft rule that would put around 100 thousand zero-emission trucks on the road by 2030.
The rule asks manufacturers to build zero-emission vehicles that put out less pollution than traditional trucks.
By 2030, an estimated 100,000 zero-emission trucks could be on the state’s roads, and that number could increase to 300,000 by 2035.
Andrea Vidaurre is a policy analyst with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.
She says strengthening the rule is a step in the right direction – but not enough.
Vidaurre: “It is strengthened, for sure, but we believe it has not gone to the point that we believe that it really reflects the dire need that the communities that are being overpolluted have.”
Vidaurre says her group originally called for an even higher percentage of trucks – 15 percent – to be zero-emission.
Vidaurre: “We’re seeing that we won’t be reaching the 15 percent we asked for by 2030, we’ll be reaching a number closer to 8 percent.”
A public comment period on the rule follows, leading up to a vote in June.
