Folks from the California Air Resources Board got less than a warm welcome in Oakland last week at a meeting to review how much in state bond funding the CARB staff is recommending for the Bay Area corridor. The Port of Oakland had asked for $39.1 million to help set up shore-power facilities for ships calling at the port. CARB is expected to allocate $20 million in funding to Oakland for shore power this month, and will tentatively allocate another $3.9 million in funding next year.

Statewide, CARB plans to allocate $500 million of the $1 billion in Proposition 1B funds in two phases - $200 million this summer and $274.9 million next year. Of that $500 million, CARB plans to allocate $50 million to itself to administer a truck loan assistance program and an additional $25 million to itself in "administrative funds." That leaves $425 million to be split among projects in four transportation corridors - Los Angeles-Inland Empire, Central Valley, Bay Area, and San Diego-Mexican border.

The $1 billion in bonds, approved by California voters in 2006, was earmarked for projects to cut freight-related pollution. So far, the state legislature has appropriated $750 million, which CARB receives in installments as the bonds are sold. The first $250 million was handed out in 2008.

CARB took its show on the road last week to present its draft recommendations at three public meetings - the first in Oakland on Tuesday, the second in Long Beach on Wednesday, and the third in Fresno on Thursday. The Oakland meeting drew Mayor Ron Dellums, five of the seven harbor commissioners, members of the Oakland Chamber, the Bay Area Council, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, folks from the trucking industry, various legislative representatives and others.

Seven Bay Area state legislators had already written CARB chairwoman Mary Nichols requesting full funding for the shore power projects and stressing its importance to Oakland and the surrounding communities.

The message last week from the locals to the air regulators was not a happy one. They complained that although they drew up the application as counseled to do so by the CARB folks, they still didn't get the amount requested. They said that CARB treats capital projects - such as those that build infrastructure - as though they are "programs" such as retrofitting old trucks.

Mayor Dellums pointed out that the $25 million that CARB reserved for administrative funding was more than the state agency allocated to build cold-ironing infrastructure at the port.

The Port of Oakland, which has been struggling financially, had been counting on the state money to help fund its cold-ironing infrastructure in order to comply with CARB regulations that require 50 percent of any fleet calling regularly at the port by 2014 turn off their auxiliary engines and plug into shoreside power. That percentage is ratcheted up in subsequent years.

Oakland needs the CARB shore-power funding to match $8 million in federal funds and $51.4 million in local funds.

The Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Hueneme, on the other hand, got the full amount of shore-power funding requested as part of the first phase - $55.6 million for L.A. and Long Beach and $5.5 million for Hueneme.

CARB staff will now put together a formal report with its final recommendations to be considered by the air resources board at a public hearing on June 24 in Sacramento. Expect to see a good turnout for that event.

Legislator's Letter

CARB Fact Sheet

Local Agency Applications Charts

-- The Cunningham Report