California regulators may ban the sale of diesel commercial trucks by 2040, as the state seeks to phase out gas-powered vehicles in the coming decades in an effort to combat climate change.
The California Air Resources Board staff is proposing a measure that would require medium and heavy-duty trucks entering ports and rail yards to be zero emission by 2035, and that state and local government fleets do so by 2027, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The proposal said it would be the next step in accelerating a zero emission ZE transportation system as well as a more equitable future in California.
The board is expected to consider it on October 27.
The proposal was made by a board vote in August that would halt the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035 in an effort to fight climate change.
Chris Shimoda, vice president of the California Trucking Assn, said there was no infrastructure to support this. The newspaper said something.
The phasing out of gas vehicles would put pressure on state leaders to move quickly to prepare for the millions of electric vehicles that will travel on the state's roadways without much interruption.
The proposal would change how the American trucking industry does business. The report said that the diesel truck is cheap, easy to run, durable and able to carry tons of cargo.
The price for communities near ports or warehouses where such trucks operate has been high. Diesel engines' smog has been linked to cancer, asthma, and other ailments. Amazon, Walmart, and other companies would have until 2042 to convert their trucks in the state to zero emission emissions.
The state regulators said they had legal and moral obligations to lessen the pollution that has been left by trucks in many vulnerable communities.