The Port of San Diego is trying to clear the air around two terminals it operates in the county. The port wants to reduce harmful emissions from diesel trucks. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.
The Port of San Diego is asking truck owners who do business at the Tenth Avenue and National City Marine Terminals to sign up for a program to reduce harmful exhaust emissions.
The Port sent out letters to 364 truck owners encouraging them to take advantage of a program that helps pay for truck retrofitting or replacement.
The Port's Marguerite Elicone says reducing truck emissions will be mandatory for port districts in California late next year.
But the Port wants to get started now.
Elicone: We're trying to be proactive and not wait until it becomes mandatory. We want to start a little earlier to improve the air in the neighborhood around the port's terminals. And this way we can not only help the neighborhood we can give the truckers a hand too because it's expensive to retrofit and replace those trucks.
She says retrofitting a truck with a diesel particulate filter costs from $10,000 to $15,000.
Elicone says truckers who participate could get 75 percent of the retrofit cost paid with money from the state and the port.
Replacing a truck could cost between $70,000 and $250,000.
Truckers get a deal here too: Elicone says money from the state and the port would pay up to $100,000 for buying a new truck.
Tony LoPresti works for the
Environmental Health Coalition
in National City.
LoPresti: There's a particular type of pollutant that comes from these trucks called diesel particulate matter. That is a carcinogen, it's a known carcinogen. It's connected to asthma. There are serious heath impacts that come from this pollution. When they retrofit or replace these trucks we're talking about pretty massive reductions in the range of 85 to 90 percent for each truck.
LoPresti says reducing those truck emissions benefits everyone.
LoPresti: But it's not just Barrio Logan and National City that have been feeling the impacts of truck pollution from the port. You know these trucks travel through a lot of communities in the region. It's a plus for other communities as well.
The Port's Elicone says the Board of Port Commissioners is expected to vote tomorrow on an agreement with the Air Pollution Control District for the truck retrofit and replacement program.
Ed Joyce, KPBS News.
