1,400 Southern California warehouses are violating clean-air rule, agency says

More than half of the Southern California warehouses required to comply with a 2-year-old clean-air rule haven’t done so, an air-quality regulator said Wednesday, Sept. 20, in announcing a crackdown on those violating the landmark standard.

Elected officials on the South Coast Air Quality Management District board voted in May 2021 to enact the Warehouse Indirect Source Rule, which seeks to clear Southern California skies of diesel exhaust from trucks ferrying goods from ports to warehouses.

Diesel emissions are linked to cancer, asthma and other health problems in a region notorious for poor air quality. Low-income and predominantly non-White communities near warehouses are especially hard hit, according to environmental justice advocates and air quality district officials.

While environmentalists lauded the rule, business groups feared it would cost jobs and stifle a robust and vital sector of Southern California’s economy. A district analysis found it could cost as much as $979 million to implement the rule and that 11,100 jobs from 2022 to 2031 potentially won’t be created as warehouses switch to clean-emission technologies.

At the same time, district officials said the rule will cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 1 1/2 to 3 tons a day, or 10% to 15% by 2031, save 150 to 300 lives and result in 2,500 to 5,800 fewer asthma attacks, 9,000 to 20,000 fewer work loss days and public health benefits worth $1.2 billion to $2.7 billion.

The rule, which applies to warehouses greater than 100,000 square feet, sets up a system in which warehouses choose from a menu of options — installing rooftop solar panels and using zero-emission or near-zero emission trucks, for example — to score a required number of points.

But since the rule’s passage, 1,400 of the 2,000 warehouses subject to the rule aren’t in compliance, a district news release states.

“Time is up for those not complying with our rule,” Wayne Nastri, the district’s executive officer, said in the release.

“Owners and operators of warehouses have known about these deadlines for two years,” Nastri said. “Communities near these facilities deserve to breathe clean air and our enforcement teams will work quickly to ensure that the facilities come into compliance as quickly as possible.”

The district this week sent warnings to noncompliant warehouses and the district “is preparing to issue notices of violation that can result in daily penalties and further legal action,” the release states.

Violators face civil fines of up to $11,710 per day.

The district’s announcement pleased Ana Gonzalez, executive director of the Jurupa Valley-based Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.

When the district board passed the rule, “we were really hopeful that we were taking the first steps to hold these polluters accountable,” she said.

“We fight so hard to create these policies and advocate for these policies,” Gonzalez said. “But at the end of the day, once it passes, the implementation and enforcement is almost like not there.”

She added: “I am, in a way, optimistic in the sense that they’re going to start enforcing the rule and really holding these folks accountable. But … when is it gonna be enough to (instead of just giving) them a slap on the wrist (to) really be intentional and terminate their operation if they’re not in compliance?”

A public agency, the district is tasked with protecting air quality in Orange County and urban parts of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Roughly 17 million people live within the district’s boundaries.

Its 13-member Governing Board consists of elected officials from cities and counties and three members appointed by the governor, the California State Assembly speaker and the state Senate Rules Committee.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Source: Orange County Register