U.S. EPA Settles with Two PepsiCo Subsidiary Companies over Violations of California’s Truck and Bus Regulation

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced settlements with two interstate trucking companies totaling $48,875 in penalties for violating the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Truck and Bus Regulation. The companies, subsidiaries of the multinational food and beverage corporation PepsiCo, Inc., failed to verify that trucks they hired for use in California complied with the state rule. Together, the companies failed to verify a total of 104 different fleets of trucks. As part of the settlement, the companies will spend at least $146,250 on air filtration systems at one or more schools in the South Coast Air Basin.

“National truck fleets traveling within California need to comply with the state’s Truck and Bus rule to improve air quality within the state,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Director Amy Miller. “We are pleased that both companies will complete projects to contribute much needed air filtration systems to reduce harmful air pollutants to southern California classrooms.”

Diesel emissions from trucks are one of the state’s largest sources of fine particle pollution, or soot, which is linked to a variety of health issues, including asthma, impaired lung development in children, and cardiovascular effects in adults. About 625,000 trucks are registered outside of the state but operate in California and are subject to the rule. Many of these vehicles are older models and emit high amounts of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides.

Today’s announcement highlights separate administrative settlement agreements with PepsiCo subsidiaries FL Transportation, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas, and New Bern Transport Corporation, headquartered in Somers, New York, each of which will pay a $24,375 civil penalty. The two will also each spend $73,125 on projects to install air filtration systems in one or more southern California schools. These systems, which will reduce harmful air pollutants, will be installed in school classrooms in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes Orange County and parts of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District will verify performance of the systems and training of school staff. The projects include a three-year supply of replacement filters, which are expected to remove more than 90 percent of ultrafine particulate matter and black carbon.

The California Truck and Bus Regulation has been an essential part of the state’s federally enforceable plan to attain cleaner air since 2012. The rule requires trucking companies to upgrade vehicles they own to meet specific performance standards for emissions of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter and to verify compliance of vehicles they hire or dispatch. Heavy-duty diesel trucks in California must meet 2010 engine emissions standards or use diesel particulate filters that can reduce the emissions of diesel particulates into the atmosphere by 85 percent or more.

For more information on California’s Truck and Bus rule, please visit: ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/truck-and-bus-regulation.

For more information on the Clean Air Act, please visit: www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview.