Revised CARB Truck Rule Ignites New Stakeholder Disputes
November 2008
Environmentalists will press the California air board to further revise a controversial proposed rule to reduce pollution from heavy-duty diesel trucks, arguing that recent changes -- including exemptions for certain older agricultural trucks -- should be eliminated.
Meanwhile, a trucking industry coalition maintains the board largely ignored an alternative proposal to the rule it submitted earlier this year, which the truckers argue would net significant emission reductions at substantially lower costs to their businesses.
Continued controversy over the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) diesel truck rule will likely draw widespread attention because it is expected to be one of the costliest regulations ever adopted by the board. The rule is also considered by the board and environmentalists to be critical to meeting state and federal air quality standards and for adequately addressing health risks tied to diesel pollution.
CARB staff Oct. 24 released its latest, revised draft regulation for diesel "on-road" trucks, which targets smog-forming emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) from most highway trucks in the state. CARB has held numerous workshops and released various drafts of the regulation over the past several months. Board members are scheduled to consider the regulation for adoption at a Dec. 11-12, 2008 meeting.
The rule would require truck owners to install emission control technology on trucks starting in 2010; engines older than the 2010 model year will have to be retired and replaced with the newest engines on a staggered schedule between 2012 and 2022. The regulation also applies to trucks registered out-of-state, including those registered in Mexico, that travel through California.
CARB's goal is to have all diesel trucks operating in California to have the cleanest engines available by 2023, which equates to meeting 2010 model-year engine standards, according to the CARB staff report.
Companies would have three options to comply with the rule each year, according to the staff report. First, a fleet operator could retrofit and replace vehicles, according to a prescriptive schedule, based on each vehicle's engine model year. Second, a fleet could meet a limit that sets an annual cap on the number of retrofits to be installed and the minimum number of engines to be replaced that meet the 2010 engine requirements.
Third, a fleet could meet a "fleet average" option, with emission targets that decline over time, the staff report says. "Each fleet has the flexibility to meet any one of these options each year, and is not required to meet the same option for both pollutants," the staff report states. "That is, a fleet could meet the [emission control technology] schedule for PM, but meet the fleet average for NOx, and be fully compliant with the proposed regulation."
CARB expects the on-road rule to cut emissions from over 400,000 diesel trucks registered in California, and another half-million out-of-state trucks.
In August, the trucking industry coalition called Driving Toward A Cleaner California submitted to CARB its own alternative proposal to the rule. The industry has long argued that the regulation could cripple many trucking companies in the state and submitted the alternative plan because the industry felt it to be less costly than CARB's.
The industry plan proposed that CARB allow older trucks to be exempted if they meet certain mileage thresholds, and require CARB to factor in the cumulative impact of multiple truck rules to allow more flexible compliance.
The industry plan also included a requirement that CARB develop a personalized compliance schedule for those businesses subject to two or more CARB rules.
During an Oct. 24 conference call, CARB staffers said they concluded the industry counterproposal would not achieve the emission reductions needed to meet upcoming federal and state air quality standards.
However, CARB staff said that the revised draft rule includes some added flexibility to address unique needs facing the agricultural trucking industry. Specifically, CARB is proposing to give older agricultural trucks hauling goods from farms to food processing plants more time to comply with the rules, staff said.
