US e-commerce mega-warehouses face new pollution rule

New York

SOUTHERN California is home to the nation's largest concentration of warehouses - a hub of thousands of mammoth structures, served by belching diesel trucks, that help feed America's booming appetite for online shopping and also contribute to the worst air pollution in the country.

Last Friday, hundreds of residents flocked to an online hearing to support a landmark rule that would force the warehouses to clean up their emissions. The new rule, affecting about 3,000 of the largest warehouses in the area used by Amazon and other retailers, requires operators to slash emissions from the trucks that serve the site or take other measures to improve air quality.

The rule, which was adopted late on Friday by the South Coast Air Quality Management District's 13-member board in a 9-4 vote, sets a precedent for regulating the exploding e-commerce industry, which has grown even more during the pandemic and has led to a spectacular increase in warehouse construction.

The changes could help spur a more rapid electrification of freight trucks, a significant step towards reducing emissions from transportation, the country's biggest source of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

The pollution has taken a particularly heavy toll in Southern California, which suffers from the nation's worst air quality. The heavy presence of industry in the region, combined with heat waves and wildfire smoke, helped make 2020 the smoggiest year in the region since the mid-1990s.

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Operators of warehouses larger than 100,000 square feet are required to earn points to make up for emissions from the trucks that come and go from the warehouses. Operators can earn these points by acquiring or using zero-emissions trucks or yard vehicles or investing in other methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions - for example, installing solar panels at the warehouses or having air filters installed in local homes, schools and hospitals. Or they could choose to pay a fee if not in compliance.

According to estimates by the regulator, its plan will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 15 per cent and result in up to 300 fewer deaths, up to 5,800 fewer asthma attacks and up to 20,000 fewer work loss days between 2022 and 2031. The district estimated that public health benefits from its plan could be as much as US$2.7 billion, about three times the projected costs. NYTIMES