CITIES CALL FOR END TO DIRTY DIESEL.Byline: - Bill Hillburg WASHINGTON - Officials representing soot- and smog-plagued Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, cities came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to make a pitch for a $10 million program to take dirty diesel trucks off local freeways. Keith McCarthy, a Downey City Council member and president of the Gateway Cities The Gateway Cities of Southern California are those located in southeastern Los Angeles County. There is some cross-over between these cities and those composing South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, the South Bay, and the San Gabriel Valley. Council of Governments, said pollution from diesel trucks is the downside of booming trade in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . The Gateway group includes 27 cities, from Montebello to Long Beach. Most are located near the Long Beach, Riverside and San Gabriel River San Gabriel River is the name of watercourses in two states:
``Trade is benefiting our area, but we're paying a price in terms of air quality and health,'' said McCarthy, who noted that port truck traffic on the Long Beach Freeway alone is expected to triple by 2010. The cities seek a federal grant to set up a retrofit ret·ro·fit v. ret·ro·fit·ted or ret·ro·fit, ret·ro·fit·ting, ret·ro·fits v.tr. 1. To provide (a jet, automobile, computer, or factory, for example) with parts, devices, or equipment not in program for big-rig trucks, perhaps by offering incentives to install pollution controls on diesel engines. A panel of experts indicated that a diesel cleanup, mandated by the end of the decade under state and federal pollution reduction efforts, faces numerous hurdles. Older diesels often are sold to smaller trucking firms that can least afford to retrofit their vehicles. |
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