IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Riverside is trying attract clean-air businesses to the city, thanks to a recent action by the California Air Resources Board.
Earlier this month, the California Air Resources Board voted 8-3 to move its motor vehicle and engine emissions testing and research facility from El Monte to an 18-acre site at UC Riverside that is currently used for agricultural testing, said Rafael Guzman, Riverside’s director of community and economic development.
That project, which is expected to arrive in 2019, will cost $366 million to develop and create 400 high-paying jobs, according a city statement.
Ultimately, the project could attract clean-air-oriented businesses to the campus, creating a cluster of research-oriented operations, like a scaled-down Silicon Valley, Guzman said.
Riverside officials are currently meeting twice a month with UC Riverside representatives and officials from the local business community to try and come up with strategies to attract such businesses.
“Even though it’s three years off, don’t think it’s too early to get started,” Guzman said. “We’re already getting some interest. We want to make this a major research area for clean energy, and that could have a major impact on the whole [Inland] region.”
