Calif. to Truckers: Cut Back on Diesel Fumes

California passed diesel emission regulations yesterday that will likely save lives and leave truckers footing most of the bill, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The state air board ruling will require trucks in California to filter their exhaust by 2014 and replace engines by 2022. The board plans to give truckers $1 billion of the $5.5 billion it will cost to retrofit and replace their vehicles.

One trucker said the ruling "scares" him and will more than double his debt. But officials expect the regulations to save 9,400 lives by 2025—particularly those of truckers and dockworkers, who breathe more diesel soot and have high rates of lung cancer. "This regulation is not something that you could do or should do—it's something you must do," an American Lung Association director told the board.

(More California stories.)