Air board plan to clean up ports could cost $10 billion.

With pollution at the ports of Los geles and Long Beach a hot issue, are environmental officials have released a vastly expanded plan to reduce air emissions at the state's ports and truck and train emissions from goods movement.

The initial plan released last December by the state Air Resource Board focused on measuring and reducing the pollution generated by international cargo as it's offloaded from ships to trucks and trains. Environmental groups criticized the plan for underestimating health impacts of pollution and focusing too narrowly on international cargo.

The new plan, the subject of hearings in Long Beach on April 20 and 21, takes into account the movement of domestic cargo throughout the state, bringing the total cost of compliance over the next decade to between $6 billion and $10 billion.

The expanded focus will allow the ARB to impose tougher pollution controls on trucks, especially older ones. In the past, the trucking industry has resisted similar mandatory regulations, saying they are too expensive for independent truckers. The ARB plan also calls for increased retrofitting of diesel freight train locomotives.

Within the ports, the revised ARB plan gives the agency authority to order use of low-sulfur marine fuels on ships docked at ports and the use of electric power from shoreline hookups, a process known as "cold ironing."

An element of the plan sure to generate controversy is its land use provisions. The ARB is proposing local governments consider the health impacts of air pollution in their permitting and planning processes, especially around ports and rail yards.

But perhaps the biggest change with the revised plan is not even mentioned: the lack of funding at the state level if a comprehensive infrastructure bond proposal does not make it on the November ballot. The ARB report said the state needs to provide $1 billion in subsidies just to retrofit or replace older trucks operating an port grounds. If bond funding is not available, the pollution control measures might have to be paid for through user fees or some other levy.

For more information on the ARB plan, log on to the agency's Web site at arb.ca.gov and click on the link to the Board Meeting Agenda for April 20 in Long Beach.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached by phone at [phone], ext. 227, or by e-mail at [e-mail].