| RE: Request for Immediate Delay of CARB’s Truck & Bus Regulation |
 |
 |
 |
| Featured News | |||
| Friday, 16 December 2011 09:19 | |||
|
December 8, 2011 The Honorable Jerry Brown RE: Request for Immediate Delay of CARB’s Truck & Bus Regulation Dear Governor Brown, On behalf of the approximately 1,000 members of the California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA) (Formally the CA Dump Truck Owners Assoc.), we are asking you to order the immediate delay of the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Truck & Bus Regulation (13 CCR section 2025). CARB is severely underprepared for the imminent implementation of the regulation. As a result of the numerous delays, lack of outreach, dysfunctional reporting assets and dangerous and unreliable diesel particulate filters (DPF) technology, CCTA members are hamstrung, and understandably angry, as they attempt to comply with a rule for which the agency has done little to prepare. Our truck owners need to know whether or not and how they are required to invest large amounts of capital into their small businesses well in advance of the pending compliance dates. As a result of some serious missteps, last minute amendments and lax preparation on the part of CARB, neither the industry nor CARB are ready to properly implement this rule. As of January 1, 2012 the regulation requires that diesel trucks be replaced, repowered and/or retrofitted with DPFs. Yet, disturbingly, to date CARB has not even finalized the regulation with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). The CARB Board directed its staff to incorporate certain construction trucking-specific provisions into the rule back in December 2010, almost a year ago. While drafts have been circulated and subsequently modified in the past 12 months (13 CCR section 2025(d) and (p)(2)), these provisions have inexplicably not been finalized despite a compliance date less than a month away. It is unfair to ask our members, most of whom are very small businesses to invest substantial amounts of capital in order to comply with a rule that is not even final. Secondly, since the rule has not been finalized, it is understandably difficult to reach out to industry and explain all the confusing options available for compliance. To date CARB has only mailed one letter to a limited motor carrier list (on or around August 15, 2011) on this topic. Apparently many in our organization have not even received this one notice. While that mailing had a significant effect on those that receive it, nothing else has been forthcoming. If a small business is forced to minimally purchase an $18,000 device, a DPF to comply with this regulation, the least CARB could have done was to send numerous mailers during this same period. Third, the rule contains significant equipment reporting obligations as of January 31, 2012, yet CARB has not produced and distributed the necessary reporting forms, nor implemented the necessary web or mail-based protocols for returning these forms. In fact recent efforts to utilize the CARB on line reporting system have resulted in messages indicating that the site is not ready for use by truck owners. Fourth, on September 16, arguably two of the most popular Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) devices were determined by CARB to be a fire hazard. It forced the manufacturer to suspend sales of certain DPFs, specifically the Cleaire LongMile and AllMetal due to potential melt-downs and fire hazards. CARB also decertified the devices. Regulatory Advisories can be found on CARB’s, CCTA’s and the manufacturers’ websites. We have been told that the dealers and manufacturer are removing the DOC substrate and replacing them with a noise reducing muffler with no emissions benefits. In some instances the Cleaire DPF’s were removed and a replacement with approved products was installed. Many believe that this issue alone is grounds enough to suspend the rule. The continued use of these filters violates State regulations because the owner has by definition altered the emissions system with an uncertified device. Our members have spent tens of millions of dollars on these devices and they are not only worthless; continued use of them violates state law and leaves the vehicle owner in violation of this new rule. Finally, at least for the construction industry, the timing of this rule’s implementation date could not be any worse time for our industry, during the winter time when most construction comes to a halt for two to four months and cash flow is virtually non-existent. Construction industry revenues are down more than 50 percent from 2006 and our industry is still suffering from unemployment rate at or above 40 percent. With billions of dollars in truck replacement and retrofit costs facing our industry, and civil penalties authorized up to $10,000 per day, per truck for non-compliance (Health & Safety Code section 39674) it is clear that our members will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of your intervention. CARB has offered no solution and no relief for the truck owners who took early steps to comply with this rule. Those owners are now faced with the loss of millions of dollars in de-certified devices and, to make matters even worse, they are no longer in compliance through no fault of their own. We urge you to impose an immediate delay upon the implementation of CARB’s rule until the agency/Board is adequately prepared to enforce the rule and provide clear guidance to industry regarding compliance options. Once the rule has been finalized by the OAL, we will need sufficient time for members of our industry to make the necessary and significant decisions regarding substantial capital investments in their businesses. The California Air Resources Board is a part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, an organization which reports directly to your Office. For all the foregoing reasons and many others, we are asking for an Executive Order that delays for 18 to 24 months the implementation date of this regulation. This will allow adequate time for CARB to address all the issues discussed herein. CCTA members will be forced to spend tens of thousands and some millions of dollars retrofitting or replacing their trucks starting on January 1, 2012 in order to comply with the regulation. We need your intervention to assure a reasonable and responsible implementation period. Sincerely,
|
