Trucking companies worried over new air quality regulations
Heavy-duty trucks are the next target of the Air Resources Board
Trucking companies already battling fast-rising diesel costs are gearing up for much-stricter regulations to improve air quality in the state. But company executives say the Air Resources Board requirements come at a steep price, possibly costing them their trucking operations.
Richard Coyle, president of Devine Intermodal in West Sacramento, said his company will be impacted by at least two of the regulations.
“There are myriad, varying and overlapping rules which are increasingly difficult to keep track of,” Coyle wrote in an e-mail.
Public workshops are scheduled in Sacramento next week on two of the proposed regulations, the final chance for public comment before those regulations are considered by the air board Oct. 23.
The rules apply to companies with vehicles that operate in California.
The air board has adopted 24 emission reduction measures under its diesel reduction plan since 2001, agency spokeswoman Karen Caesar said.
Two more are on the books, including one aimed at the last and largest source of unregulated diesel emissions: heavy-duty trucks.
The air board is also working to create regulations under Assembly Bill 32, the landmark California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The act aims to reduce the state’s global warming emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Some of the new air emission rules will affect Devine Intermodal.
“We obviously support clean air,” Coyle said. “We simply hope we have the financial resources to meet CARB’s schedules.”
He is not certain what financial impact the regulations will have on his company. He has applied for grants from the air board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to help him replace some of his older port trucks. New trucks cost about $100,000 and air districts can grant up to $50,000 per truck, he said.
“Once we know that variable, we will obviously have a better idea of our overall cost,” Coyle said.
Devine Intermodal shuttles imports and exports to and from the Port of Oakland, so those trucks are subject to the air board’s port rule, which promotes getting older trucks off the road.
The company’s cargo trailers also will be subject to what’s known as the “private fleet rule,” the regulation aimed at heavy-duty diesel-powered trucks.
Coyle said regulation is necessary because diesel engines, if properly maintained, are built to last 1 million miles or more.
“If we simply wait for these trucks to be mechanically retired, we could be waiting decades,” he said. “The timetables that are being thrust upon us are very aggressive, however.”
Because his company has been reinvesting in new trucks, he’s hopeful that he’ll have “a little more breathing room.”
“We believe that many less-than-desirable, noncompliant and illegitimate truckers who operate unsafely on a shoestring may be eliminated, while bona fide, capitalized and legitimate companies will survive, perhaps thrive,” he wrote.
Next week in Sacramento, the air board will host public workshops at 1001 I St. on two proposed regulations. Monday’s workshop, set from 1 to 5 p.m., is to discuss a proposal, under AB 32, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks and 53-foot or longer trailers. The majority of long-haul freight is transported in 53-foot trailers. They include dry vans, refrigerated vans and curtain-side vans.
The proposed regulation aims to reduce pollutants by mandating that certain trucks and trailers use equipment that makes the vehicles more aerodynamic in order to improve fuel efficiency.
Julie Sauls, vice president of external affairs for the California Trucking Association, questions whether the equipment retrofit makes sense.
“To capture the fuel savings that are purported to be a positive, you would need to be traveling at 62 miles per hour,” Sauls said. “Commercial vehicles have a speed limit of 55 miles per hour.”
The air board staff is determining how much pollution levels would decline as a result of the greenhouse gas regulation.
The proposed regulation also would apply to California-based businesses that receive or ship freight in 53-foot or longer box-type trailers. The receivers of freight would be responsible for making sure the vehicles delivering freight comply with the rule, Caesar said. If the shipment does not comply, the receiver can reject the shipment.
A second workshop is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday on the proposed regulation for heavy-duty diesel-fueled trucks.
Caesar said the new rules would lead to better health for many residents.
It’s estimated that the diesel truck rule alone would prevent 11,000 premature deaths due to air quality, at a cost of $70 billion to $89 billion, between 2010 and 2020. The proposed regulation would reduce smog-forming emissions by almost 30 percent by 2014, estimates say.
Sauls said the trucking association’s biggest concern is the cumulative effect that all of the regulations will have on the trucking industry.
“There’s a lot of unknowns,” she said.
