Andrea Vidaurre

Andrea Vidaurre’s grassroots leadership persuaded the California Air Resources Board to adopt, in the spring of 2023, two historic transportation regulations that significantly limit trucking and rail emissions. The new regulations—the In-Use Locomotive Rule and the California Advanced Clean Fleets Rule—include the nation’s first emission rule for trains and a path to 100% zero emissions for freight truck sales by 2036. The groundbreaking regulations—a product of Andrea’s policy work and community organizing—will substantially improve air quality for millions of Californians while accelerating the country’s transition to zero-emission vehicles.

A “Diesel Death Zone”

California, the nation’s most populous state, is a major hub for freight movement—by ship, rail, and truck—and a leader on climate policy in the US. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) was formed in 1967 to establish air quality regulations that protect public health and regulate major sources of air pollution; today, it is recognized as the state’s leading agency for climate change programs.

In 1970, due to its severe air pollution, California was granted the explicit right under the US Clean Air Act to adopt stricter standards to protect residents from air pollution by vehicle emissions. It became the only state granted a waiver to create its own regulations for vehicle emissions. Because each state can adopt another’s emission standards, California’s example has an outsized importance in setting national policy. Across the country, trucking and rail freight have a major effect on public health locally—with rates of asthma, respiratory illness, and more—and on climate change globally. 

In 2023, 10% of US vehicles are medium and heavy-duty trucks, and trucking emits 25% of greenhouse gases in the transportation sector. Rail engines release 640 tons of toxic particulates annually. 

California’s Inland Empire, which consists of Riverside and San Bernardino counties to the east of Los Angeles, is home to more than four million people, the majority of whom live in working class Latino communities. The region has the worst air quality in the country, according to EPA data. Public health experts have dubbed the area a “diesel death zone” due to elevated cancer, asthma, and premature death rates—rates of illness that are significantly higher than the national averages and which have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air quality continues to decline as the Inland Empire has become the country’s largest trucking hub thanks to the next-day shipping boom and the region’s proximity to the nation’s largest shipping complex—the container ports of Long Beach and San Pedro (Los Angeles). Because of over 1 billion square feet of warehousing, large intermodal railyards, and multiple freight airports, some 600,000 daily truck trips are conducted in the area, which, combined with rail emissions, produce 25,000 tons of daily CO2 emissions. The region also contains 4,000 warehouses, over 600 of which are located within 1,500 feet of a public school. In 2022, Amazon, which already has a major concentration of warehouses in the area, started local construction of the world’s largest warehouse facility.

A Champion for Environmental Justice

Andrea Vidaurre, 29, is the cofounder and policy coordinator of the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, a community-based organization in the Inland Empire. She is a lifelong resident of the region and is deeply motivated by the impact of toxic emissions from the freight industry on her friends, family, and community. Her family has long worked at warehouses and freight airports—unloading trucks, moving packages, and loading planes. Andrea believes that a sustainable transition to a fossil fuel-free economy is only possible by fighting for environmental justice. 

Tackling a Giant Industry

In 2018, Andrea was working as a community organizer in areas experiencing increased air pollution and subsequent health issues due to rampant warehouse construction in the Inland Empire—with those impacts disproportionately affecting communities of color. Recognizing the need for statewide action, she pushed CARB to adopt stricter truck emissions regulations and quickly established herself as a vocal leader on the issue. Understanding the importance of workers’ rights, Andrea helped mobilize warehouse and trucking labor unions to join the statewide coalition of environmental justice organizations and communities that were also calling for emissions reductions. In response to the community outcry for decades, CARB initiated a rulemaking process to address emissions from the truck and rail industry in late 2018.

The rulemaking process included technical workshops with community members, industry representatives, and NGOs to draft policy proposals; and it included site visits to frontline communities to familiarize members of the committee with challenges on the ground. Andrea, known for her policy expertise, played a central role in the workshops as a civil society representative, submitting public comment, participating in Q&A sessions, and analyzing proposals. In addition to the policy work, she organized direct community advocacy to CARB voting members. Andrea coordinated “toxic tours” of frontline communities in the Inland Empire for CARB members and state legislators to witness firsthand the freight system’s impacts. When industry pushed to exempt 18-wheel trucks from new emissions rules, she led outreach to state legislators as she sought their support. The campaign was successful, leading state lawmakers to call for CARB to strengthen truck emission rules, in November 2019.

In response, CARB enacted the Advanced Clean Trucks rule in 2020, setting a timeline for the sale of zero emissions trucks in the state. New Jersey, New York, Washington, and four other states—together representing 20% of the domestic, heavy-duty truck market—adopted California’s regulations, sending a powerful signal to both advocates and opponents. Encouraged by the progress but unsatisfied, Andrea pushed for even stronger regulations to achieve a complete phaseout of truck emissions and also include the rail industry.

After another two years of working through policy proposals with CARB, Andrea saw a complete phaseout of diesel emissions from both the trucking and rail freight sectors as attainable. To generate further public pressure, she organized a caravan of concerned citizens from communities across the state to meet in Sacramento for a critical CARB public hearing in October 2022. Members from more than 70 organizations participated in a rally outside the CARB offices calling for strengthened regulations. Inside the hearing, Andrea organized and translated community member testimony, managed public comments, and spoke on behalf of the statewide coalition. Their feedback to CARB was positively received and paved the way for a consequential vote on strengthened regulations the next year.

In April 2023, with Andrea in attendance, CARB unanimously adopted the Advanced Clean Fleets Rule and the In-Use Locomotive Rule. The new rules strengthened the regulations adopted in 2020, shifting all new heavy-duty truck sales in California to zero emissions by 2036 and heavy-duty truck and locomotive adoption by 2045. Combined, the rules represent California’s most ambitious emissions reduction regulations in history. Studies suggest that the regulations will prevent thousands of premature deaths from respiratory illness over the next three decades.

Throughout the campaign, Andrea successfully bridged the gap between the complexities of emission policy and environmental justice movements in local communities. While the EPA has yet to grant approval—and legal challenges from the industry remain—CARB has encouraged the trucking industry to begin phase-in of the new zero emissions mandates in 2024. In addition, at least eight states have indicated their intention to adopt the new trucking rules once they are approved by the EPA.

The impact of the new California rules will increase exponentially as additional states adopt the new standards, which are significantly stricter than federal regulations.