Press Release: Proposed Truck Clean-Up Rule Will Save Billions in Health-Related Costs for Truckers and Other Californians
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Press Release: Proposed Truck Clean-Up Rule Will Save Billions in Health-Related Costs for Truckers and Other CaliforniansProposed Truck Clean-Up Rule Will Save Billions in Health-Related Costs for Truckers and Other CaliforniansRule Makes Smart Economic Sense, Will Stimulate Economy, Save Lives(Sacramento, CA - December 5, 2008) The Schwarzenegger Administration’s proposed truck clean-up rule, which the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will vote on next Friday, will provide a much-needed boost to the economy and cut billions of dollars in health care-related costs each year for truckers and other Californians.
“The death and disease toll from diesel truck pollution represents an enormous burden of human suffering,” said Dr. John Balbus, chief health scientist for Environmental Defense Fund and a member of EPA’s Science Advisory Board and Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee. “CARB’s proposed rule will clean up the most polluting trucks and save lives and money in the process.”
One of the most common causes for families to hit hard times is their inability to deal with chronic illness and high medical costs. A leading contributor to chronic heart and lung disease in California is highly polluted air, and toxic diesel pollution is a core component of that health-threatening pollution.
In California alone this year, diesel truck pollution was responsible for about 4,500 deaths, 1100 hospital admissions, worsening of respiratory symptoms in more than 76,000 people and 450,000 lost workdays, according to CARB. Truck and other air pollution results in about $28 billion in health-related costs in the San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles region combined each year, according to a recent economic study conducted by the Institute for Economics and Environmental Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and Sonoma Technology, Inc. Complying with the truck rule over its 15-year life will cost less than $6 billion spread over a period of 15 years, according to CARB.
“Uncontrolled diesel trucks cause too much illness and too much unaffordable cost,” Balbus concluded. “The Schwarzenegger Administration is right to say enough is enough. We applaud the Administration for its strong stand in favor of reducing air pollution and protecting public health.”
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| Press Release: California Approves Plan to Implement Climate Change Law, Sets Precedent for National, International Action (Sacramento, CA - December 11, 2008) California regulators today unanimously approved a plan to implement a law requiring the state to dramatically cut its global warming pollution, setting a precedent for national and international action, according to a law cosponsor. The law cosponsor, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), praised the California Air Resources Board for its historic vote to approve its Scoping Plan to implement The Global Warming Solutions Act.
The Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) is the first statewide effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions. It sets a firm cap requiring the state to cut its emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020 (about 30 percent below business as usual).
“As world leaders meet in Poland to negotiate an international climate deal, California regulators today set an international and national standard for how to meet aggressive targets to cut global warming pollution that will create a high-wage, clean high-tech economy,” said Derek Walker, director of EDF’s California Climate Initiative, who just returned from attending the United Nations’ climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland that ends tomorrow.
Seven Western states (Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Utah) and four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario) have followed California’s lead by pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions as part of a Western Climate Initiative.
“California already leads the nation in clean tech investment,” said Dr. James Fine, EDF economist and policy scientist. “The Air Resources Board’s approval of its plan to implement The Global Warming Solutions Act will reinforce this trend. Our state is well-positioned to make enacting this law an opportunity, both economically and environmentally, rather than a burden, as some naysayers suggest. By approving the action plan, ARB is acknowledging definitively that the most expensive option for California is inaction in fighting global warming.”
“California’s businesses and consumers can reap substantial economic benefits from implementing The Global Warming Solutions Act and lead the world in pioneering a green, low carbon economy that sustains our future,” said David Festa, vice president of EDF’s West Coast Region and a former director of Policy and Strategic Planning at the U.S. Department of Commerce. |
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