Staff Reports
California’s air board has quietly shifted its At‑Berth rule from paper to practice, and that shift is already showing up on bills. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has stepped up enforcement, approved new capture systems, and stood up the At‑Berth remediation fund. In plain English: ports, terminals and shippers are facing new costs — and consumers are the ones who will end up paying.
CARB’s move from rulemaking to enforcement
CARB isn’t just talking about cleaner air anymore. In the past year the agency has announced settlements for at‑berth violations, approved multiple barge‑based capture‑and‑control systems as alternative compliance tools, and worked with regional air districts to launch the remediation fund administrators. CARB says the expanded At‑Berth rule will cut pollution dramatically — even claiming about a 90 percent drop in targeted emissions for added vessel visits and big cancer‑risk reductions for port neighborhoods. Those health claims are CARB’s justification. The practical result is more inspections, more required fixes, and more formal pathways for regulated parties to pay the remediation fund when they can’t meet controls on a visit.
What the new approvals and the fund mean in the real world
That sounds technical, but the money flow is simple. Where a vessel can’t plug into shore power, ports and carriers now have the option of using CARB‑approved capture systems or making remediation‑fund payments. CARB has already posted executive orders approving several capture systems and has signed MOUs with local air districts to operate remediation funds. CARB even reached a settlement in early 2026 for an at‑berth opacity violation to show it will enforce the rule. All of these moves trigger invoices, vendor fees and new terminal‑side costs — capital for shore‑power, operating fees for barge systems, and routine payments into the remediation pool when necessary.
So who pays? Hint: not the regulators
Regulators write the rules. Ports and terminals typically pay for infrastructure up front, then recover costs through tariffs, handling fees or specific surcharges. Ocean carriers pass charges to shippers. Shippers pass costs to retailers. Retailers pass costs to shoppers. That chain is industry practice, not a mystery. The result is higher freight or a new line item that shows up on your grocery bill, your gas station receipt, or the cost to ship goods across the country. If you like hidden taxes, you’ll love how these new compliance bills hide inside handling fees and carrier surcharges. If you don’t, then you should also be asking Governor Gavin Newsom and CARB Chair Lauren Sanchez why an unelected board’s policy is turned into a nationwide cost increase while Sacramento sits on its hands about the state’s own energy choices that made the problem worse.
Fix it: transparency, slowdown and accountability
There is a legitimate public‑health case for cleaner air near ports. But legitimacy gives you no license to ignore cost and common sense. Start with transparency: ports and terminals should publish any tariff changes and remediation‑fund payments tied to At‑Berth compliance. CARB and the Newsom administration should produce a clear cost‑benefit accounting that compares estimated compliance costs to the health gains CARB claims. If the program is causing supply‑chain stress or fueling higher fuel prices in a state with shrinking refinery capacity, then slow the roll until infrastructure is in place and costs are better distributed. Call it accountability, not obstruction. If California insists on being the test case for these rules, fine — but stop pretending the tab won’t be sent to the rest of America.
