Collaborative Research to Expand and Accelerate Transportation Electrification in the Inland Empire

Thursday, June 1, 2023, 9am–2pm

IBEW Local 440, 1405 Spruce Street, Suite G, Riverside, CA 92507 (map)

This event has passed. Read the event report [pdf].

The Inland Empire’s logistics sector: 1 billion+ square feet in warehouse space. 600,000 truck trips per day. 231,400+ of the region’s 1.71 million workers. For more than a decade, community organizations have demanded political action to mitigate the labor and environmental concerns raised by the industry’s rapid expansion. These demands have been answered in recent years with the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Indirect Source Rule and the California Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Trucks and Advanced Clean Fleets rulemakings, which push logistics companies to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

All heavy-duty trucks in California will need to be zero-emissions by 2045. How does the path forward look for the Inland Empire? What do fleet operators need to do to electrify? What adjustments will local jurisdictions and utilities need to make to accommodate this infrastructural shift? Whose jobs will be affected? What types of work will expand or be created, and how can we ensure that they lead to family-sustaining careers? How will land use change? How can the electrification of logistics fit into a larger vision for a more economically democratic Inland Empire?

The CREATE-IE workshop, a follow-up to the December 2022 event Plug In IE, will offer a structured space for conversation on these pressing questions.

Agenda

9 am–9:30 am	Welcome & Introductions Dr. Kanok Boriboonsomsin, UCR CE-CERT Dr. Marissa Brookes, UCR Political Science & Labor Studies, Inland Empire Labor & Community Center Dr. Hillary Jenks, Inland Empire Labor Institute
9:30 am–10 am	Presentation Ivette Torres and Andrea Vidaurre, People’s Collective for Environmental Justice Discussion Moderator: Dr. Juliann Emmons Allison, UCR Gender and Sexuality Studies & Global Studies
10 am–10:50 am	Panel 1 \| Fleet & Infrastructure Requirements Ron Hunt, Forum Mobility Susan Linwood, ChargePodX Tracy Sato, Riverside Public Utilities Bruce Tuter, California Air Resources Board Moderator: Dr. Matthew Barth, UCR CE-CERT
10:55 am–11:45 am	Panel 2 \| Community Impacts: Air Quality & Workforce Aaron Dyer, Southern California Edison Dr. Aaron Katzenstein, South Coast Air Quality Management District Jonathan Rowe, Inland Empire Electrical Training Center Moderator: Dr. Ellen Reese, UCR Sociology & Labor Studies, Inland Empire Labor & Community Center
11:45 am–12:45 pm	Lunch
12:45 pm–1:25 pm	Breakout Groups: Visions and Strategies Community Engagement Workforce Development Land Use & Infrastructure
1:25 pm–1:45 pm	Share Back & Close

Additional Information

Parking & Transportation

Parking is available in the IBEW 440 lot.

To reduce the carbon emissions of this event, we encourage the use of carpools and public transportation.

Virtual Information Table

View materials shared by participants.

Resources

The following materials are for informational purposes only:

This event is organized by members of the following entities: Plug In IE – Inland Empire Labor Institute • UCR Bourns College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research & Technology (CE-CERT) • UCR College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Departments of History; Political Science; Society, Environment, and Health Equity; and Sociology; and Labor Studies and Public History programs • UCR Office of Sustainability • Inland Empire Labor and Community Center. It is funded by an Internal Funding Award from the University of California, Riverside, and a WIOA grant from the California Workforce Development Board’s High Road Training Partnerships initiative.