California Air Resources Board Diesel Regulation Causing Confusion

Recent news stories underscore ongoing confusion surrounding proposed diesel regulation

 

SACRAMENTO -- Owners of California’s diesel trucks and buses are working with the California Air Resources Board (ARB) on an alternative proposal to the Board’s proposed on-road diesel truck and bus replacement regulation, but there is widespread confusion surrounding the scope, cost and many other implications of the regulation. This confusion is highlighted in this recent television news clip.

The regulation, now set to be heard by the ARB in December, would require every diesel truck and bus operating in California today – which according to the ARB includes all “those transiting California roadways from other states and countries”–  to be replaced or retrofitted.  The proposed start date for this regulation would be 2010.

The news clip notes that the state has been working on the diesel rules for almost 10 years, but California diesel truck and bus owners are still in the dark about the new requirements, the actual cost to implement the rule and exactly how fleets will be impacted.  The clip erroneously states that the rule has been postponed indefinitely, but it only compounds the confusing nature of the diesel regulation set to target almost 1 million trucks and buses used to transport goods and people on California’s roads, highways and farms.

“My members are struggling to understand just how the $5 billion regulation will impact their truck fleets,” said Robert Ramorino, president of Road Star Trucking in Hayward and president of the California Trucking Association.  “As we move forward I hope that the ARB will understand the tremendous confusion that small businesses are facing as they try to wade through these complicated compliance issues and work with the industries impacted to help clarify this rule.”

The story also demonstrates that many businesses are already investing in new cleaner fleets, but are unsure if these investments will ensure compliance.

“This is just the latest example of the confusion being caused by the multiple regulations being proposed by the Air Recourses Board,” said Mike Lewis, executive vice president of the Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition.  “We look forward to working with the staff and the members of the ARB on an alternative that considers the cumulative effect of multiple regulations and the financial impacts of all these rules.”

The Driving Toward a Cleaner California Coalition has developed and presented ARB with an alternative proposal that would do the following:

  • Allow for more flexible mileage exemptions for older model year vehicles meeting certain mileage thresholds.  These vehicles would use an alternative compliance schedule while still realizing emission reductions.
  • Encourage early incentive provisions for the purchase and use of new clean technology.
  • Allow certain dedicated specialty use vehicles to remain in service on a revised emission compliance schedule.
  • Require the ARB to factor in the cumulative effect of multiple regulations, to permit compliance on a schedule that considers the financial impacts of all rules rather than the schedule required by each rule.
  • Require the ARB to investigate and address operational and other safety considerations of new retrofit technology.