The Brief

California’s top air quality regulator today urged the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to “immediately” approve the state’s regulation phasing out diesel trucks.

Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph was among more than 250 people who signed up to speak today at a virtual hearing focusing on whether the EPA should grant California a waiver that allows the state to enact its regulation. The hearing lasted 12 hours.

Adopted in 2023, California’s mandate is the first in the world to ban new diesel trucks and force a switch to zero-emission big rigs, garbage trucks, delivery trucks and other medium and heavy-duty vehicles. No new fossil-fueled medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks would be sold in the state starting in 2036. Large trucking companies also must convert fleets to electric or hydrogen models by 2042.

The diesel ban is one of the most far-reaching and controversial rules that California has enacted in recent years to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Trucking companies, agricultural groups and others told the EPA today that the rules would harm the economy and the deadlines would be nearly impossible to achieve, while environmental and community groups, clean energy companies and at least one major retailer, Ikea, spoke in favor of the measure.

For more than 50 years, California has had the authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own emission standards for trucks, cars and other vehicles. But the EPA must grant a waiver for each specific rule that California adopts before it can be implemented.

One deadline in the state rule — regulating drayage trucks that operate at ports — was supposed to kick in this year. But the air board has delayed enforcing the measure until it receives an EPA waiver.

A spokesperson for the EPA declined to say when a decision on the waiver would be issued.

The waiver request is one of several that California regulators are hoping the EPA will act on before the November election. Supporters of California’s climate rules worry that a return of former President Donald Trump to the White House could block future approvals.

Randolph told the EPA that diesel trucks contribute “significantly” to the state’s air pollution and greenhouse gases so moving California’s fleets from diesel to electricity or other zero-emissions options is critical to improving public health and meeting the state’s climate goals.

Andrea Vidaurre, a co-founder of the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, a community group based in San Bernardino, said zero-emission trucks are needed to clean up air pollution in the Inland Empire, which is home to warehouses and freight industries.

“It is the only way that we’re able to actually bring some relief to the communities that are living in some of the … deadliest pockets of air pollution in the nation,” she said. “We don’t see any other way.”

But trucking companies say zero-emission big rigs can be twice the price of a diesel version, take hours to charge, can’t travel the range that many companies need and lack a sufficient statewide network of chargers.

Matt Schrap, chief executive of the Harbor Trucking Association, which represents operators of drayage trucks at California’s major ports, called the rule “unprecedented” and “ill-conceived.” The rules would hit truck drivers hard and would be impossible to implement, Schrap said, given the state does not have the charging network needed to meet the demands of electric trucks.

“It’s not that anyone in our industry is opposed to advanced technology,” Schrap said. “But we are very concerned about how this rule will be implemented, because it has real world impacts, not only on businesses, but the end-use consumer.”

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA has to follow specific rules for when it rejects a California waiver: California’s decision would have to be “arbitrary and capricious in its finding” that its standards protect public health. Or the state does not need the rules to “meet compelling and extraordinary conditions” or they violate the Clean Air Act’s provisions about technical feasibility.

For decades, the EPA has granted California waivers to set its own ambitious, technology-forcing standards for cars, trucks and other sources. Only one waiver was initially denied — a 2008 rule setting greenhouse gas emission standards for cars — and that decision was quickly reversed and the waiver granted.

An electric delivery truck is displayed during the Zero Emissions Convoy in Bakersfield on Feb. 23, 2023.

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Larry Valenzuela

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CalMatters

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The former Trump administration took aim at the state’s special status to enact stricter air pollution standards — one of the more significant environmental battles of the Trump era. The Biden administration in 2022 reversed the moves.

“The previous Trump administration tried to remove California’s waiver, and that is the avowed goal of Donald Trump today,” Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Davis, told CalMatters ahead of the hearing. “So gaining the waivers before November is important.”

Earlier this year, truck engine manufacturers reached a deal with California over the rules. But trucking companies still oppose them. When California passed the ban last year, a top trucking industry executive predicted economic chaos and dysfunction and said the mandate is likely to “fail pretty spectacularly.”

Mike Tunnell, a senior director for the American Trucking Associations, urged the EPA at the hearing today “to investigate the facts surrounding the deployment of zero emission trucks” because the industry thinks the regulation violates the provisions of the Clean Air Act about feasibility of technology. He said the state “did not understand nor account for the economics and the infrastructure requirement that make it infeasible to implement the regulation on California’s timeline.”

Shifting the state’s fleets off diesel — which has been a highly efficient powerhouse for heavy-duty vehicles for decades — is one of California’s biggest moves to cut greenhouse gas emissions and clean up smog and soot. It’s particularly important for low-income communities burdened by freight traffic.

“California still has the worst air quality in the nation,” air board chair Randolph told the EPA at the hearing. “The climate crisis also continues to accelerate in California, with coastal erosion, extreme weather, high temperatures and wildfires that are aggravating the air quality challenges that we already face.

The rule would transform the commercial trucks operating on California’s roads, affecting around 1.8 million vehicles, including those used by the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, UPS and Amazon.

Some big companies, including Pepsi, have rolled out electric fleets. Amazon earlier this year announced that it deployed 50 heavy-duty electric trucks in Southern California as well as hundreds of electric vans nationally.

Businesses other than trucking companies were mixed in their commentary today. IKEA testified in support of the waiver, while the Western Growers Association, which represents California farmers, argued the requirements could prove burdensome for farmers in California.

Sales of new electric trucks, buses and vans in California doubled last year compared to the previous year, with one out of every six sold in the state emitting zero carbon, according to state data.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said California was ”moving away from dirty polluting big rigs and delivery fleets – cleaning our air and protecting public health.”

Sperling of UC Davis said the rule is an important policy. But he said the purchase requirements “are problematic because they are complicated and impact thousands of companies” and that’s made the rules “politically and administratively problematic.”

California in 2020 passed its first rule ramping up sales of zero-emission trucks and buses and three years later, the EPA, under the Biden administration, granted California its waiver to enforce the measure.

The new rules add onto that by banning diesel truck sales:

• By 2036, truck manufacturers will only be allowed to sell zero-emission models of heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks.
• Large trucking companies in California must convert their fleets to electric models. Timelines vary based on the type of truck, but companies will have to buy more over time until all trucks are zero-emissions by 2042. 
• Drayage trucks, which carry cargo to and from the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland, have one of the strictest timelines: All must be converted to electric models by 2035 and new sales beginning in 2024 were supposed to be zero emissions. 
• The gradual conversion to zero emission models only applies to fleets that are owned or operated by companies with 50 or more trucks or $50 million or more in annual revenue, and federal agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service. Included are trucks weighing 8,500 lbs or more and delivery van vehicles.

In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena and Pasadena’s music community have really shown up to support fire survivors, especially fellow musicians who lost instruments and record collections.

That effort continues this weekend with a special donation concert at a Pasadena record store, with the aim of getting vinyl records back in the hands of survivors who lost their collections.

“You know, our name is Healing Force of the Universe, and I think that gives me a pretty clear direction… especially after the fires,” said Austin Manuel, founder of Pasadena record store, where Sunday’s show will be held.

The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s instruments in the Eaton Fire. Through Altadena Musicians’s donation and registry platform, Jay said he and his partners have helped some 1,200 fire survivors get their music instruments back.

Brandon Jay.

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Robert Garrova

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LAist

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Now, that effort has fanned out to restoring vinyl record collections.

“All of that stuff evaporated for thousands of people,” Jay said. “Look at your own record collection and be like, ‘Wow, what if that whole thing disappeared?’”

You might know Jay from several bands over the years, including Lutefisk, a 1990s alt-rock band based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, composed music for TV shows, including Orange is the New Black and Weeds.

Jay plans to play some holiday tunes at Sunday's record donation show (which LAist is the media sponsor), along with fellow musician Daniel Brummel of Sanglorians. Brummel, who was also a founding member of Pasadena’s indie-rock sensation Ozma, said he was grateful to Jay for his fire recovery work and to Manuel for making Healing Force available for shows like this.

Brummel, who came close to losing his own home in the Eaton Fire, recalled a show he played at Healing Force back in March.

Ryen Slegr (left) and Daniel Brummel perform with their band, Ozma, on the 2014 Weezer Cruise.

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Even Keel Imagery

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“The trauma of the fires was still really fresh,” Brummel said. After playing a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” that night — which includes the lyrics “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down” — Brummel said his neighbors in the audience told him the rendition hit them hard. “It felt really powerful. And without that space, it just wouldn’t have occurred.”

Details

Healing Force of the Universe Record Donation Show
Featuring: Quasar (aka Brandon Jay), Sanglorians (Daniel Brummel) and The Acrylic.
Sunday, Dec. 14; 2 to 5 p.m.
1200 E. Walnut St., Pasadena
Tickets are $15 or you can donate 5 or more records at the door. More info here.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.