Pasadena Organization Backs ‘Green’ Bill AB 1613

CALSTART, a Pasadena-based nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting clean transportation is backing a bill now in the California State Senate that would help fund important clean air projects in the state.

The bill, AB 1613, would distribute about $1.2 billion in revenue collected under California’s greenhouse gas cap and trade program, a government-mandated market-based system that aims to lower greenhouse gases by holding companies financially liable for their emissions.

The state assembly has not yet announced where all the money would go, but said it would fund clean air projects in the San Joaquin Valley.

“If Assembly Bill 1613 is approved by both houses, it would enable approximately $20 million in high-value clean transportation projects in the San Joaquin Valley,” said CALSTART President and CEO John Boesel to a statement released to the media. “A number of very promising and different electric trucks and buses would be deployed in the Valley if this legislation passes.”

The California Air Resources board has approved and recommended five specific projects in the San Joaquin Valley contingent on receiving an additional $60 million from the cap and trade fund.

The projects aim to bring clean transportation to many towns in California, and include providing 10 40-foot electric transit buses to the city of Porterville, 15 electric trucks for the United States Postal Service distribution centers in Fresno and Stockton, 20 electric trucks to the cities of Fresno, Merced, Bakersfield and Stockton, 21 former diesel trucks converted to fully electric vehicles to California, and 15 battery-powered buses for the towns of Modesto, Stockton, Visalia and Selma.

For more about CALSTART click here http://www.calstart.org/Homepage.aspx.