California Air Regulators to Crack Down on Warehouses

“In 2021, the South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted a first-of-its-kind rule that requires large warehouses to offset pollution from the truck traffic they attract,” writes Tony Briscoe in the Los Angeles Times.

Since then, only 45 percent of warehouses have submitted a compliance report. “The warehouse compliance reports submitted to the air district included annual truck traffic, warehouse size and how these facilities chose to offset emissions.” Of the warehouses that submitted reports, 25 percent chose to pay mitigation fees instead of implementing any changes.

Now, regulators plan to launch a “sweeping enforcement initiative.” According to Briscoe, “Warehouses that fail to register with the agency could face financial penalties as high as $11,710 for each day they fail to come into compliance. The enforcement action will begin with warehouses operating in disadvantaged communities.”

The initiative targets the thousands of massive distribution warehouses that dot Southern California’s Inland Empire, contributing “nearly as much smog-forming emissions as refineries, power plants and other heavy polluters combined, according to air district officials.”