Archive: March 12, 2020

For Immediate Release: March 12, 2020
Media Contact: Soledad Calvino, 415-972-3512, [email protected]

LOS ANGELES – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced settlements with two interstate trucking companies totaling $48,875 in penalties for violating the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Truck and Bus Regulation. The companies, subsidiaries of the multinational food and beverage corporation PepsiCo, Inc., failed to verify that trucks they hired for use in California complied with the state rule. Together, the companies failed to verify a total of 104 different fleets of trucks. As part of the settlement, the companies will spend at least $146,250 on air filtration systems at one or more schools in the South Coast Air Basin.

“National truck fleets traveling within California need to comply with the state’s Truck and Bus rule to improve air quality within the state,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Director Amy Miller. “We are pleased that both companies will complete projects to contribute much needed air filtration systems to reduce harmful air pollutants to southern California classrooms.”

Diesel emissions from trucks are one of the state’s largest sources of fine particle pollution, or soot, which is linked to a variety of health issues, including asthma, impaired lung development in children, and cardiovascular effects in adults. About 625,000 trucks are registered outside of the state but operate in California and are subject to the rule. Many of these vehicles are older models and emit high amounts of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides.

Today’s announcement highlights separate administrative settlement agreements with PepsiCo subsidiaries FL Transportation, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas, and New Bern Transport Corporation, headquartered in Somers, New York, each of which will pay a $24,375 civil penalty. The two will also each spend $73,125 on projects to install air filtration systems in one or more southern California schools. These systems, which will reduce harmful air pollutants, will be installed in school classrooms in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes Orange County and parts of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District will verify performance of the systems and training of school staff. The projects include a three-year supply of replacement filters, which are expected to remove more than 90% of ultrafine particulate matter and black carbon.

The California Truck and Bus Regulation has been an essential part of the state’s federally enforceable plan to attain cleaner air since 2012. The rule requires trucking companies to upgrade vehicles they own to meet specific performance standards for emissions of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter and to verify compliance of vehicles they hire or dispatch. Heavy-duty diesel trucks in California must meet 2010 engine emissions standards or use diesel particulate filters that can reduce the emissions of diesel particulates into the atmosphere by 85% or more.

For more information on California’s Truck and Bus rule, please visit: ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/truck-and-bus-regulation.

For more information on the Clean Air Act, please visit: www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview.

Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter.

DALLAS (March 12, 2020) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a grant of $669,047 to the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). The funding will support management programs for nonpoint-source water pollution, which is caused when rainfall or snowmelt carries pollutants into rivers, lakes, and other waterbodies.

“Protecting New Mexico’s valuable water resources from runoff pollution takes broad, coordinated effort,” said Regional Administrator Ken McQueen. “This grant to NMED will support New Mexico in its program to monitor and manage nonpoint source pollution in its watersheds and keep rivers and lakes clean for communities and the environment.”

NMED will use the funding to implement its nonpoint source management program, focusing on watersheds affected by nonpoint source pollution. Projects will include implementing best management practices, watershed planning and monitoring, technology demonstrations, and a variety of education and outreach programs.

Unlike pollution from industrial facilities and sewage treatment plants, nonpoint source pollution does not come from a specific place. As precipitation moves over or through the ground, it picks up debris and pollutants and deposits them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground water. Nonpoint source pollution can include excess fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides; oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban runoff; sediment; drainage from abandoned mines; and bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet waste and faulty septic systems. States report that nonpoint source pollution is the leading remaining cause of water quality problems.

More about EPA’s work in New Mexico: https://www.epa.gov/nm

More about nonpoint source pollution: https://www.epa.gov/nps

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On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eparegion6 

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/EPAregion6

About EPA Region 6: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-6-south-central  

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