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California ARB amends diesel rules to reduce cost of compliance

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has amended its diesel rules to offer businesses a variety of options to comply with the regulations to reduce soot from diesel engines. With the amended regulations in place, diesel particulate matter emissions will be reduced from today’s levels by 50% by 2014 and 70% by 2020, according to ARB.

ARB staff proposed amendments to the Truck and Bus regulation and Off-Road regulation to provide relied to fleets adversely affected by the economy, and to take into account the fact that emissions are now lower than previously predicted. The amendments to the Truck and Bus regulation eliminate requirements for trucks with a GVWR of less than 26,001 pounds, and ease the compliance schedule for heavier trucks. Changes to the Off-Road regulation delay the initial compliance date, reduce annual requirements, and provide a path to compliance without retrofits.

Over the past year, ARB staff held 20 public workshops throughout the state to solicit stakeholder input and discuss options for revising diesel control measures affecting commercially owned trucks, buses, port trucks, tractor trailers and off-road vehicles, including construction and large-spark ignition equipment (e.g., forklifts).

No other state, and no other nation has such an extensive set of rules to slash pollution from diesel engines. The diesel rules for vehicles cover almost everything that moves on or off the road, from trucks and buses to off-road construction equipment, and over the next 12 years they will prevent 3,900 premature deaths by removing thousands of tons of diesel soot from the air we breathe. The changes we set in place today will continue those public health benefits while reducing the cost of compliance by more than 60 percent.

—ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols

Statewide On-Road Truck and Bus Regulation. Approved in December 2008, this regulation will clean up emissions from the nearly one million heavy duty diesel trucks that operate in California. Key amendments will:

  • Reduce overall compliance costs by about 60% as California recovers from the recession;
  • Exempt about 150,000 lighter trucks from having to retrofit with particulate filters;
  • Delay initial compliance date for the retrofitting of heavier trucks and allow them to operate another 8 years before being required to use a truck that meets 2010 emissions standards; and
  • Expand credits for fleet downsizing, adding cleaner vehicles ahead of any regulatory requirements, and for installation of early retrofits.

In addition, the Board voted to require all school buses greater than 14,000 lbs GVWR to be retrofit with diesel filters by 2014. If no retrofit is available, the buses have until 2018 to be replaced by vehicles with a 2010 model year engine or emissions equivalent.

Off-Road (e.g., construction equipment) Regulation. First approved in July 2007, this regulation—the first of its kind in the US—is aimed at reducing diesel emissions from the state’s estimated 150,000 off-road vehicles used in construction, mining, airport ground support and other industries.

The state’s economic downturn, which began after this regulation was adopted, heavily impacted this sector, causing emissions to decline primarily due to fewer pieces of equipment in use, along with reduced activity of the remaining equipment. As amended, the regulation will:

  • Delay implementation for all fleets by four years;
  • Reduce costs by 97% in next 5 years;
  • Expand or extend credits for businesses that comply before their deadline or have downsized; and
  • Ease annual requirements to clean up engines (e.g., small fleets can extend phase-out period for oldest equipment over 10 years, from 2019 to 2029).

Port Truck Regulation. Approved in December 2007, the port truck (or “drayage”) regulation was adopted to modernize and clean up trucks that serve the state’s busiest ports and rail yards. The regulation has already banned pre-1994 trucks from these facilities and required diesel particulate filters on others. The new amendments will:

  • Assure that all trucks serving the ports, including the smaller Class 7 trucks, will have diesel particulate filters by 2014; and
  • Expand the regulation to include trucks operating outside port or rail yard properties to prevent non-compliant trucks from receiving cargo from clean trucks in those areas.

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Comments

Reel$$

China, India, SE Asia, might want to look at these regulations. Even with the far cleaner diesels today - particulate pollution in Asia is killing nearly 1M people annually.

Stan Peterson

More CARBite idiocy. They always release regulations with schedules impossible to meet. After wasteful crash programs are launched to comply, and have no possibility of success, they fail. The Carb geniuses finally return to reality and change the implementation schedule to what it should have been in the first place.

All they succeed in doing is making the costs excessive and wasteful. Typical CARBite idiots. Both Ms. Wooden Nickles and Dr. Real Quack need to be retired.

ToppaTom

Lighten up, Stan.
If they can afford this stuff, it's their call, their money.

Um; It is going to be their money isn't it?

We can "afford" to let them fail can't we?

Can't we?

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