SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board has approved the first three Community Emissions Reduction Programs within the South Coast Air Quality Management District under Assembly Bill 617.

Residents living in three communities heavily impacted from high levels of air pollution sources including ports and inland warehouses traffic will breathe cleaner air thanks to the local plans approved yesterday. The plans were developed under the requirements of AB 617, requiring community-driven action to identify, monitor and reduce air pollutants of specific concern to each of community. The plans approved are for:

• Wilmington, Carson, West Long Beach Community
• East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, West Commerce Community
• San Bernardino, Muscoy Community

“The plans will help protect the health of three of the most heavily pollution-impacted Los Angeles area communities by clamping down on emissions from heavy traffic around ports, railyards and warehouses,” said CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols. “We look forward to continued direct involvement with the communities as we work together to put their plans into action.”

Wilmington, Carson, West Long Beach

Some of the key strengths for the Wilmington, Carson, West Long Beach CERP (https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/board/books/2020/091020/20-10-1pres.pdf) are the rules for flaring and equipment used at refineries, fenceline monitoring at refineries and incentives for port related equipment. Other recommended actions to strengthen implementation identified for the Air District, CARB, and steering committee to work together are to prioritize strategies and utilize enforcement feedback.

East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, West Commerce

The East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, West Commerce Community CERP (https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/board/books/2020/091020/20-10-2pres.pdf) will focus on a railyard Indirect Source Rule (ISR, a local regulation used to control or reduce emissions associated with new and existing indirect sources), use new technologies to help target incentives and enhanced enforcement for trucks.

San Bernardino, Muscoy

Focus on a warehouse Indirect Source Rule, air monitoring at concrete batch and asphalt plants and air filtration at schools are a key strength of the San Bernardino, Muscoy Community CERP (https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/board/books/2020/091020/20-10-3pres.pdf). It will also conduct quarterly idling sweeps for neighborhood truck traffic.

The community emissions reduction programs were developed through a partnership between the South Coast Air Quality Management District and community steering committees for each of the three communities, which include community residents, local businesses, air district representatives and other stakeholders to develop the specific emission reduction strategies included in each of the programs. 

To address the requirements of AB 617 (C. Garcia, 2017) CARB developed the Office of Community Air Protection (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/capp) (OCAP). Its role in supporting development of community emission reduction programs is to establish program guidelines, called the Community Air Protection Blueprint (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/capp-blueprint), and to coordinate the overall process to ensure the requirements of AB 617 are met.

Approval of these three South Coast Air Basin plans bring the total Board-approved number of community emission reduction programs under AB 617 to seven. Generally, reduction strategies in community emission reduction programs target emissions for pollutants of concern and from sources of concern that are identified in collaboration with community residents. The types of sources have included:

• Heavy-duty trucks and passenger cars
• Residential energy use
• Urban sources
• Industrial and agricultural sources including pesticides
• Oil and gas operations

Coordination with Other Agencies

Many of the strategies included in the three approved programs will take focused coordination between multiple public agencies. This includes ports, agencies involved in making land use decisions for large facilities, and agencies that can influence vehicle traffic or routing as well as truck idling activity. Those include CARB, the local air district, and other state and local agencies.

Related Community Action Efforts 

CARB continues its statewide efforts to achieve emissions reductions in all communities, including those not yet selected to participate in the AB 617 program.

These efforts include:

• Community Air Grants Program (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/capp-cag)
• Community Air Protection Incentives (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/community-air-protection-incentives)
• Other statewide efforts and databases to support the development of community-focused strategies are included in the Community Air Protection Blueprint (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/final-community-air-protection-blueprint-appendix-f) and available on the Community Air Protection Resource Center (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ocap_resource_center).