California Dump Truck Owners Association (CDTOA) - California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

CIAQC Lobbies to Extend Reporting & Rule Implementation Date

Well the good news first. CARB has agreed to push out the Truck & Bus Regulation ‘reporting’ deadline from January 31 to March 30, 2012. The bad news is the rule is in-force and if you have 4 or more trucks and you have not done anything with your fleet (sell, retrofit, repower or buy new) to 30% of it, you are in trouble!

We are happy to introduce Rudy Navarrete as the new Regional Sales Manager for AADT and the Southern Membership Services Director for CCTA. Rudy’s first day on the job was Jan. 6. I believe that he will add an important dimension to our staff and his experience and connections will be invaluable to growing the association in a very diverse environment. I asked him to write his first article about himself, see page 23, CNT Magazine, Jan issue.

An industry in need of continued cooperation

Good News for our industry, AB 812 (Ma) a CalCIMA sponsored bill beginning 2014 that, “shall increase the allowable amount of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) to 40% for hot mix asphalt mixes.” The bill passed out of committee unopposed on Jan. 9, with a 14-0 vote. Most importantly, there were 32 members at the hearing, representing 24 different companies including our own Betty Plowman that testified in support of the bill! It was a very impressive display. We believe the turnout quashed any thought of Caltrans opposition from legislators. The bill author Assembly member Pro Tem, Fiona Ma, was very thankful for the support – and she personally counted and thanked each person that testified. 

As the CARB Truck and Bus Regulation went into effect on schedule Jan. 1, there was an interesting resurgence of interest in our two legal actions to stop this regulation. On Jan. 26, I guess we will get to see whether or not the biased media can dissuade a federal judge enough to ignore pretty sound and settled federal legal precedents concerning preemption.

As we discussed last month, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in November and Brooks was present at the court hearing for this action on Dec. 15, 2011. Surprisingly, no formal order has been issued yet. We filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court seeking to put the truck and bus regulation on hold, at least until the court can rule on our summary judgment motion. Although the judge indicated he was going to deny our motion for a preliminary injunction back on Dec. 15, 2011, again no formal order has been issued yet.  

It’s a good thing for EPA that Clarence Thomas never says anything at oral argument.

In the Sackett case argued before the Supreme Court on January 9, MSNBC reported… Justice Samuel Alito called the EPA’s actions “outrageous.” Justice Antonin Scalia noted the “high-handedness of the agency” in dealing with private property. Chief Justice John Roberts said that the EPA’s contention that the couple’s land is wetlands, something the couple disagrees with, would never be put to a test under current procedure…The justices will rule by summer.

That all their regulatory efforts have reduced pollution here in California by 99%!

CARB’s Mary Nicholas admitted in a letter dated November 23, 2011 to Rep. Darrell Issa that the agency (CARB), “has reduced smog-forming pollution emissions by over 99 percent.” So why is there such ongoing Draconian regulations, academic propaganda and NGO (NRDC, GP, EDF) lies about the quality of the air we breathe today, if all of this environmental regulations and costs is to eliminate the last one percent. Are Hank and I the only ones that find these claims odd and something that the media and general public are not incensed about?

In last month’s magazine, we ran a CARB generated emailed news bulletin on this regulation which was reprinted on page 12 of this magazine. This is another reminder, the first deadlines for the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Truck and Bus Rule are here (actually passed for fleets of 4 or more subject diesel powered trucks). The rule “could” be stopped if we win our injunctive relief legal challenge, unfortunately in a 12-15-11 hearing, the judge indicated that he would not likely agree to our claim in his order. While there is no order yet, an important hearing date on our main summary judgment claim is scheduled for January 26.  

Industry: We need your story. CARB Press releases “never” provide your side of the story.

·         We want your story about enforcement actions.

·         We need you experiences relating to DPFs, ammonia fumes in your trucks and problems with new engines.

·         We need your story about grants and funding - good and bad.

·         We need your story about accessing CARB’s Reporting site.

email us at:

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Yes, it is official; the Association’s name is changing to the California Construction Trucking Assoc., (CCTA). We decided to create an interim logo which looks like the old CDTOA logo with the new name. We have added a variety of construction trucks and equipment as line art around the logo to show the diversity of diesel-powered trucks that work on a typical heavy construction job site.

As we discussed last month, on November 15, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court seeking to put the truck and bus regulation on hold, at least until the court can rule on our summary judgment motion. Our filing included a Notice of Motion and Motion for Preliminary Injunction, eight declarations, and a request for judicial notice. The request for judicial notice asks the court to take notice of both the initial statement of reasons from CARB and the final statement of reasons.

On November 29, we presented a conceptual draft letter for the governor to the board members of CIAQC asking for support to endorse our letter. Instead, all the members of the group agreed to not only endorse the letter, but actually draft a separate more detailed letter from all the members of the group. Plus, each member agreed to send a separate letter from their respective associations – all 8 members.

On December 9, CCTA/CDTOA, again with the invaluable help of legal counsel, drafted a letter to the last state agency to review CARB’s on-road regulations. As we stated above, the Office of Administrative Law (AOL) has until December 14 to finalize CARB on-road truck and bus regulation. On the OAL’s website, it says that the agency/office is supposed to ensure that all (and especially new) regulations are clear, necessary, legally valid, and available to the public. OAL is responsible for reviewing administrative regulations proposed by over 200 state agencies for compliance with the standards set forth in California’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA), for transmitting these regulations to the Secretary of State and for publishing regulations in the California Code of Regulations.

Clusterf#@k is a military term for an operation in which multiple things have gone wrong in a short period of time within the same general activity -- caused by stupidity and ineptitude. This pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

As we stated last month, the final On-road truck and bus diesel engine rule amendments were supposed to be completed and issued in mid-to-late October, then November, and here it is December 13 and still nothing but excuses and propaganda.

The rulemaking documents are available for the soon-to-be final truck regulations are at www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2010/truckbus10/truckbus10.htm,

PM2.5 Emissions Grows by 24% in a World Wide Recession -- Hmmm?

When I read about the forest fires in Washington started by a CARB required DPF last month and saw the thousand of tons of emissions (pollution) released from that fire, it occurred to me to look at the most recent EPA PM charts on their website. The most recent charts we had seen were from the 2005 period and appeared to be an average over three consecutive years. When I went to that site/link again recently, that chart was gone and an entirely new chart was there. Not only does the new chart not have the same general inventories, but it also reports that the amount of PM in the state has gone up by over 24%.

According to a variety of internet based sources, in economics, rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent or existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. For example: spending money on political lobbying in order to be given a share of wealth that has already been created. Trial lawyers and chiropractors are widely known to do this within the workers’ comp insurance industry under the guise of protecting and helping the injured worker.

Well, I used to laughingly say that next they will blame earthquakes and tsunamis on global warming. And then it happened! I’m not surprised that the report linking earthquakes to moisture from hurricanes and typhoons comes out of San Francisco via academic rent-seekers. Just all another example of the absurdities of the junk science behind global warming and PM2.5-related premature deaths. On page 23 is a great article by William Briggs that addresses CARB’s “crack” PM related science.

It looks like even the whacky liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is turning skeptic.

According to the Clean Energy Report, A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit appears skeptical over environmentalists’ claims that an Alaskan village has the right under common law to collect monetary damages from oil companies because the industry’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are making the village uninhabitable.

Enjoying thumbing through old issues of California Geology, the California Geological Survey’s earth magazine? Well, now you can do it from your computer via a newly created index: www.redirect.conservation.ca.gov/CGS/information/calgeology/index.asp

CDTOA & CCTA would like to thank you for your support this year, have a safe Christmas and Happy Holiday, we will continue to fight for your rights into the new year!

Lee Brown - Executive Director

In addition to announcing the newly elected Executive Committee members, we discussed and implemented many new and dynamic changes for CDTOA. First, we have or pretty much completed the draft of the association’s new bylaws. Secondly, we will be renaming and restructuring CDTOA into what we hope is an even more formidable organization. As discussed in the “About the Cover” in the President’s Report, we have a newly elected Executive Committee who will be responsible to lead CDTOA into the future as the newly renamed California Construction Trucking Association.

The final On-road rule amendments were supposed to be completed and issued in mid-late October – on Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:44 PM, CARB notified industry of the: Final Rulemaking Packages for On-Road Diesel Vehicles and Off-Road Equipment Regulations. The email went on to say, “In October, the Air Resources Board (ARB) filed with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) final rule-making materials for the following regulations: the In-Use On-Road Diesel Vehicle Regulation (Truck and Bus Regulation), the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Regulation (Tractor-Trailer GHG Regulation), the Off-Road Large Spark Ignition Engine Fleet Requirements (LSI Fleet Regulation) and the Regulation for In-Use Off-Road Diesel Fueled Fleets (Off-Road Regulation). OAL has until December (30-days) to approve the regulations and file them with the Secretary of State.”
The rulemaking documents are available for the truck regulations at: www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2010/truckbus10/truckbus10.htm

Ellison Law: CDTOA v. CARB Updates

On November 15, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court seeking to put the Truck and Bus Regulation on hold at least until the Court can rule on our summary judgment motion. We explained to the court that because many members have to make crucial and costly business decisions by January 1, 2012, we need to know prior to that date whether the CARB rule requiring tens of thousands of dollars of capital investment per truck, will actually be allowed to take effect.  Our filing included a Notice of Motion and Motion for Preliminary Injunction, eight declarations, and a request for judicial notice. The request for judicial notice asks the court to take notice of both the Initial Statement of Reasons from CARB and the recently posted Final Statement of Reasons. There is a hearing set for December 15, 2011.

• PLF Lawsuit v. EPA Heavy Vehicle Mileage Standard: EPA rejected the arguments PLF made during the comment period on the HDVR (heavy duty vehicle rule governing greenhouse gas emissions). We argued that EPA must submit the HDVR to the Science Advisory Board (“SAB”) for review. The final HDVR regulations were published in the Federal Register, without submittal to SAB, on September 15, 2011. That means the deadline for filing an appeal is November 14. We need to file the appeal no later than November 8.
• PLF Lawsuit Auto Mileage Standard: There is also a LDVR petition for reconsideration of that regulation now pending. The LDVR rule was the first rule that EPA passed without proper review.
• PLF Lawsuit Intervenors on Behalf of EPA & CARB: CDTOA and Rob McClernon as well as other construction members and associations (Dalton, Delta, SCCA and EUCA etc.) and their presidents are PLF clients in a joint intervention as defendants on behalf of the believe it or not the state (CARB) and the federal government (EPA) in the existing cases Blades, et al v. Ca. CGC and Alec L. Gardian Ad Littum, Victoria Loorz v. Jackson. These are environmental related lawsuits where activists are suing the state to regulate CO2 on behalf of our children and global warming under the legal principle of the “Public Trust Doctrine” that requires the government to protect and maintain certain shared resources fundamental for human health and survival. 

Time again to hold your nose to avoid the stench of government activism, both here and in Washington D.C. Having dealt with environmental organizations such as CARB and its leadership, including Mary Nichols, its staff, and all the Hien-Tran types there, few are shocked by EPA’s Gina McCarthy’s behavior and disingenuous comments about EPA’s outreach to OOIDA.

On September 7, we received an extension on the discovery part of our suit. The court did issue a scheduling order that revised the dates, it then set various dates to fit its own schedule rather than using those that the parties had agreed upon.  In an effort to comply with the order, we reached an agreement on the dates provided.

We submitted answers to the NRDC’s interrogatories and requests for admission on September 19. We then provided documents on September 26. They asked about 50 different questions, most of which CARB was probably better suited to answering.

Now that our responses to the NRDC’s questions have be sent, CARB legal was able to review those responses, and much like getting a second bite at the apple, they are asking us some very interesting questions now. We have 30 days to respond to their questions. If you are interested in this part of the case which isn’t typically shared, you can read it all from our website.

If you’re a construction truck broker with or without power, you better believe that CARB is licking its chops to dig in your pockets beginning in 2012 and beyond.

On August 29, CARB proudly announced that it had settled a fine against an in-state motor carrier in the Ontario area for $59,050, The company which was dispatching four contracted owner-operators trucks along with their own, between the state’s rail yards and ports, didn’t meet drayage emissions requirements spelled out in CARB’s port truck regulation.