The San Joaquin Valley Air District Governing Board unanimously voted to accept $12.9 million in additional California Air Resources Board (CARB) funding to replace heavy-duty trucks through the Valley Air District’s grant program.

Reducing emissions from mobile sources is key to the San Joaquin Valley meeting federal ambient air quality standards. Heavy-duty trucks, such as the ones targeted under this funding, are the single largest source of NO_x and diesel PM in the Valley, and are critical to ensuring that goods are moved throughout the State and nation.

Emissions from heavy-duty vehicles are primarily under the regulatory jurisdiction of state and federal government, and voluntary incentive programs are critical to transitioning fleets to the next generation of cleaner technologies and achieving reductions needed to meet air quality standards.

The District’s successful truck incentive programs have repowered, retrofitted, or replaced more than 7,300 heavy-duty trucks with cleaner alternatives.

Through advocacy efforts, the 2021-22 California state budget included new funding designated for the replacement of heavy-duty trucks with zero or near-zero emission trucks in severe or extreme nonattainment areas, with $12.9 million of that funding allocated for the San Joaquin Valley.

These new funds will be utilized within the District’s existing Truck Replacement Program that provides funding for new, clean truck technologies.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is made up of eight counties in California’s Central Valley: San Joaquin,Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin portion of Kern.

The San Joaquin Valley has been attainment for Carbon Monoxide (CO) since 1994, reached attainment for the federal PM¹⁰ standard in 2008, and demonstrated attainment of the federal 1-hour ozone standard in 2014. The District is currently working on reaching attainment for the federal 8-hour ozone and PM_2.5 standards.