State Air Board Approves New Truck Rules

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 12, 2008 at 1:40 PM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The California Air Resources Board has approved regulations to reduce diesel pollution in the state. The new rules target older heavy-duty diesel trucks in California. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed

The California Air Resources Board has approved regulations to reduce diesel pollution in the state. The new rules target older heavy-duty diesel trucks in California. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

Older polluting diesel trucks, school buses and other large vehicles would be retro-fitted or replaced.

The vote came after an all-day hearing with testimony from more than 100 people including representatives from school districts, farmers and trucking groups.

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Julie Sauls with the California Trucking Association says the new rules are too costly.

Sauls: I think it is extremely important that you also take into account the income levels that this industry is currently facing and their ability to make these investments.

State grants and loans are available to help fund the improvements, which begin taking effect in 2011.

The air board says diesel truck pollution has been estimated to account for 70 percent of the cancer risk from the air we breathe.

Health advocates say the new rules will save more than 9,400 lives and cut billions of dollars in health costs each year.

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Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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