IRVINE, Calif. (March 25, 2025) — As freight and logistics expand across California’s Inland Empire, San Joaquin Valley, and Bay Area, air quality is taking a hit — even when industry players follow existing standards. A new report released by the Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources (CLEANR) at the University of California, Irvine School of Law outlines how air districts can address this challenge using Indirect Source Review (ISR), a promising but underutilized approach to clean air regulation.
Gregg Macey, director of CLEANR and Sue Dexter, a researcher at the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy authored the report, “Goods Movement and Environmental Justice Policy Pathologies,” which highlights how ISR can help mitigate pollution from warehouses, ports, and rail yards — facilities that draw heavy-duty trucks and other mobile sources of air pollution. Despite California’s strong environmental policies, gaps remain, partly due to poor integration of state planning with local land use and a lack of enforcement of civil rights laws. The report urges air districts and state agencies to use ISR to bridge this gap and push for more substantial emissions reductions to protect public health. Read the report.
Read the report: Goods Movement and Environmental Justice Policy Pathologies
“We hope our study sparks a cultural shift in how agencies address public health disparities through rulemaking,” said Macey. “To achieve this, our report outlines key principles for implementing effective Indirect Source Review, which will require political will, analytical capacity, meaningful use of community science, and coordination among officials. Otherwise, regulation will fail to reflect the true scale and scope of the goods movement industry’s impacts on California communities.”
The report’s findings were shaped by feedback from participants of the “Pollution Magnets” policy workshop organized by CLEANR with the Sierra Club and Earthjustice on March 18, in Oakland, California. The workshop brought together air district representatives, environmental groups, and public health advocates to discuss challenges and opportunities for advancing ISR and other air quality measures.
“This workshop is part of a broader effort to build a coalition that monitors rulemakings for warehouses, rail yards, and ports,” Macey said. “We hope that the Bay Area Air District’s work to advance these rules, along with ISR advancements in the South Coast, can serve as a national model for responsible governance.”
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