LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The mayors of
five cities near polluted freeway corridors are calling for cleaner
heavy duty trucks along those corridors. Studies have shown that
corridors such as the 710 freeway that run near their cities have
some of the worst air quality in the nation. Most of the region's
smog forming (or NOx) emissions come from the heavy duty
transportation sector. Those most likely impacted are disadvantaged
communities near or around major transportation corridors and
ports. Studies also indicate that air pollution contributes to
asthma, cancer and premature death, especially in children and the
elderly.
South Gate Mayor Jorge Morales will announce the advent of a
critical breakthrough solution, along with Commerce Mayor Lilia
Leon, Maywood Mayor
Eddie De La Riva, Bell Mayor Ali
Saleh and Compton Mayor
Aja Brown on Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 10
a.m. to 11 a.m. at South Gate Park at the intersection of
Pinehurst and Tweedy streets in South
Gate.
The five mayors will be joined by representatives from the
California Energy Commission (CEC), the South Coast Air Quality
Management District (SCAQMD) and Southern California Gas Company
(SoCalGas) to explain this new solution to clean the air near and
around their cities. They will also be joined by representatives
from Cummins Westport, the maker of an engine that has recently
been certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the
Environmental Protection Agency as 90% cleaner than traditional
engines – the first "near zero" transportation technology ready to
roll in the all-important heavy duty sector. The engine development
funding came from the SCAQMD, CEC and SoCalGas.
Waste Management will also display one of its refuse trucks in a
fleet of more than 4,500 natural gas trucks operating in
North America with a Cummins
Westport clean-burning engine.
The Waste Management trucks on the road today have nearly zero
particulate emissions, cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 20
percent and are far quieter than their diesel counterparts.
"As a person who grew up with asthma, I've experienced firsthand
the impacts of pollution in my community," said South Gate Mayor Jorge
Morales. "There is a solution that exists today to improve
air quality in my city and in the surrounding region. We must
act now to encourage cleaner technology within the heavy duty
transportation industry so that my child and the children of
South Gate can breathe cleaner
air."
"The City of Compton sits
between multiple freeways and my constituents are particularly
vulnerable to the adverse impacts of poor air quality," said
Compton Mayor Aja Brown. "Today, we have an opportunity to
deploy more clean trucks to greatly improve the quality of life for
families and children in our cities."
"The new Cummins Westport Inc. 'ISL G NZ' engine offers a
commercially available option for California fleets to replace their aging
vehicles with engines that have nitrogen oxide tailpipe emissions
that are 90 percent lower than existing standards. The Energy
Commission is pleased to be part of the public-private partnership
that helped develop this new engine and looks forward to the
expansion of this technology to other engine sizes and vehicle
applications," said Janea A. Scott,
CEC Commissioner. "When combined with renewable natural gas,
vehicles utilizing the advanced low NOx engine have the potential
to come very close to being zero emission vehicles."
"In Southern California, clean, zero and near-zero emission
vehicle technologies are critical for meeting federally mandated,
health-based clean air standards," said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer for the
SCAQMD.
"We're pleased to be part of this effort. Natural gas is one of
the most affordable and cleanest burning alternative fuels
available today," said Rodger
Schwecke, vice president of Customer Solutions for SoCalGas.
"Heavy-duty natural gas vehicles can reduce smog by about as much
as 90 percent. We need to be part of the solution to help clean the
air by giving incentives for the transition from polluting
heavy-duty trucks to clean alternative fuel vehicles such as
near-zero emissions trucks that run on natural gas."
"Providing our customers with outstanding service with minimal
impact to the environment is top priority for our company," said
Janine Hamner municipal and
community relations manager for Waste Management of Southern California. "Since natural
gas-powered collection trucks run cleaner and quieter, we've made
the commitment to use more in our local operations as we work to
keep communities clean in the most sustainable manner
possible."
About Southern California Gas Co.
Southern California
Gas Co. has been delivering clean, safe and reliable natural gas to
its customers for more than 140 years. It is the nation's largest
natural gas distribution utility, providing service to 21 million
consumers connected through more than 5.8 million meters in more
than 500 communities. The company's service territory encompasses
approximately 20,000 square miles throughout central and
Southern California, from
Visalia to the Mexican border.
Southern California Gas Co. is a regulated subsidiary of Sempra
Energy (NYSE: SRE). Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services
holding company with 2014 revenues of $11
billion. The Sempra Energy companies' 17,000 employees serve
more than 32 million consumers worldwide.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.