Just Cleaner Air: Measuring Effectiveness of Cleaner Trucks on Addressing Environmental Justice

Keywords: Environmental Justice, Air Pollution, Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks, Port, Clean Trucks Program
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Beginning in 2008, the EPA used a combination of national and state Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) grant funds to encourage ports to retire aging drayage trucks. These trucks are high-mileage, former long-haul trucks that contain older engines. They often emit more pollutants than newer trucks. In the year 2010, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) implemented its Port Drayage Truck Replacement Program (TRP) to improve air quality near the port. As of October 2022, 935 old trucks were replaced. Despite its importance, little is known about the program’s impact on local air quality and which groups may have most benefitted. This paper examines effectiveness of the port environmental policy by observing the changes in NO2 and PM2.5 concentration levels of vulnerable groups living near the port terminals. I use local air pollution levels and demographic information at the census-block group level. Treatment is created based on the distance buffers around the truck routes, and event cutoff year is 2010. I employ an Event Study model with spatially autocorrelation adjusted standard errors. I find that air quality after TRP implementation generally improved for the near-port populations, who are likely to be lower-income Hispanic or Latinos with higher asthma rates. These findings imply that the current policy to accelerate to electrification is critical but diesel mitigation policy is needed as an intermediary solution to lessen the environmental disparities for the vulnerable and disenfranchised communities.