Why is eco-conscious California spending millions to support natural gas?
In the course of an hour, more than a hundred big rig trucks chug through the aptly named city of Commerce. The heavily Latino community in Los Angeles intersects Interstate 710 – the main highway that moves cargo shipments from the nearby ports to their final destinations.
Along with the merchandise they deliver – Amazon shipments, produce and Mitsubishis – the trucks emit significant amounts of air pollutants. As do the dozens of cargo ships that cluster outside the ports and the freight trains that transport goods.
California has touted its green reputation worldwide, even though the southern part of the state has some of the worst air pollution in the US, particularly here at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Los Angeles has the worst smog pollution of any city in the country, and the region is still struggling to meet national smog standards from 1997. Transportation has been the biggest hurdle.
Transportation contributes at least 40% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, and as regulators grapple with how best to reduce air pollution in the region, they are pouring millions of dollars into a controversial solution: natural gas.
The regional air regulator that oversees Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties, the South Coast air quality management district, has for years dedicated a significant potion of its clean air grants – millions of dollars – toward natural gas trucks and infrastructure through its various incentive programs meant to clean up the air, according to data on two of the agency’s main grant programs. One of its biggest grant programs spent more than 90% of funds on diesel and natural gas incentives – rather than on electric vehicles. Much of that funding has flowed to very
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