Taking Action to Reduce Emissions: Hydrogen Truck Grant and Senate Committee Hearing

Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan's August 9th, 2021, E-Blast

Hi Neighbor,

As new reports come out further detailing the devastating impacts of climate change, it is vitally important to take action to build a healthier sustainable future. This includes making it easier and safer for our communities to walk, bicycle, and use public transit. In coordination with these efforts we must prioritize the reduction of deadly emissions by utilizing zero emission trucks in our community. Throughout the years I have been championing efforts to bring hydrogen fuel cell technology to Oakland and our region.

View my committee segment: Link

July 27, 2021, Senate Committee on Hydrogen Energy Agenda: Link

Hydrogen Truck Grant Press Release: Link

I was incredibly honored to be invited as a panelist at the July 27, 2021, Senate Committee on Hydrogen Energy. I spoke on the vital strategy to further our use of hydrogen fuel cell technology as fuel for our transportation. This would support our environmental sustainability and protect public health. I previously served on the Board of AC Transit, our local bus operator, which two decades ago became one of the first to adopt the use of fuel cell technology, our AC Transit buses are fueled by hydrogen fuel cell and have had excellent performance and reliability, all with zero emissions.

In recent months, I've been working together with many different stakeholders including the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC), the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), the Port of Oakland, East Bay Mud (EBMUD), and with the support of the Carbon California Energy Commission, we have won a major State grant to launch zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell trucks and a fueling station at the Port of Oakland.

For years our African American and lower income communities in East Oakland and West Oakland have been subjected to disproportionate harm from air pollution, especially diesel particulate emissions from trucks. Below is an air pollution map produced by BAAQMD, it shows the air pollution cancer risk from 2005 and then ten years later. The purple line shows where the highest density of pollution is, which is along the 880 highway through west & east Oakland and down to San Leandro, a truck corridor which not only serves the Port of Oakland but also to various warehouses and other facilities that currently utilize diesel fuel trucks. These communities continue to be subjected to a disproportionate share of air pollution, causing asthma, cancer, and several negative health impacts. It is vital that we take action to use hydrogen fuel in these areas as well as continue coordinating with EBMUD to create hydrogen fuel from waste.

In Solidarity,

𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧

#LoveLife