The California Air Resources Board on Dec. 12 unanimously adopted regulations that would require fleet owners operating in California to begin replacing older trucks or retrofitting them with diesel exhaust filters, beginning in 2011.
Under the rules, almost all vehicles covered would be replaced or upgraded by 2014. Owners must also replace engines older than the 2010 model year according to an implementation schedule running from 2012 to 2022.
The board, however, deferred a decision on including long-haul tractors in the greenhouse gas reduction mandates. Under the draft regulation released in October, model year 2011 and newer tractors pulling 53-foot box-type trailers would have to be SmartWay certified. But the board was concerned over the lack of a test procedure for tractors, so it directed staff to work with the Environmental Protection Agency to develop such procedures and to report back by the end of 2009 with an update on a new SmartWay tractor certification and recommendations.
In the final version of the so-called Statewide Truck and Bus Regulation – aimed at reducing particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen – CARB responded to pleas from business groups about costly regulations in face of a poor economy by delaying implementation for a year; the original proposal would have required fleet owners to begin upgrading equipment in 2010. The board also allowed fleet owners to delay compliance for a year for every older-technology truck they retired.
