California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

Just one day before our Winter Board Meeting in Sacramento, on January 11, CDTOA legal counsel was instructed to file a lawsuit against CARB. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California (Sacramento). CDTOA is the sole plaintiff. We are challenging CARB’s On-Road Diesel Engine Truck and Bus Regulations. Our claim is that this CARB regulation is preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA or F4A). We are asking for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief from the court (Note: we did have to file an amended complaint on March 1, 2011).

The FAAAA prohibits any state or any political subdivision thereof from enacting or enforcing any law or regulation related to the price, route, or service of a motor carrier.

Our lawsuit claims if that the Truck and Bus Regulation promulgated by CARB directly impacts the price, route, and service of the motor carrier members of CDTOA, it is therefore preempted by federal law pursuant to the supremacy clause of Article VI of the United States Constitution.

Our claim also states that a controversy that has arisen and now exists between CDTOA and CARB regarding the legality of the Truck and Bus Regulation. CDTOA desires a declaration of its members’ rights under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Unless restrained and enjoined, CARB will implement and enforce the Truck and Bus Regulation, resulting in irreparable harm to CDTOA members.

On our website (cdtoa.org) we are providing all the related filings and supporting documents associated with the lawsuit, including an estimated timeline of events and actions. We have included a copy of the press release on pages 9-10 for those members without internet access. We distributed this press release to about 400 relevant media and industry outlets on February 15.

This is how the links appear on our website:

• CARB Complaint - Filed February 11, 2011
• 1st Amended Complaint - Filed March 1, 2011
• Suit Summons - Filed February 11, 2011
• Press Release (PDF) (HTML) - February 15, 2011
• CDTOA v. ARB Litigation Actions & Timelines Guide - Updated February 22, 2011

We will also continue to pursue all legal options and remedies to question the science and process behind CARB’s anti-diesel engine regulations. We are continuing to aggressively compel CARB to respond to CDTOA’s Public Records Act request for unredacted and updated information relating to the $750,000 CARB/SCAQMD-funded study by UC Berkeley Professor Michael Jerrett called the “Spatiotemporal Analysis of Air Pollution and Mortality in California Based on the American Cancer Society Cohort.” This publicly funded study was supposed to be completed at the end of March 2010, a year ago, and we are still finding it difficult to get the latest progress report and explanation as to why the report is late—a year late!

We will continue to push for the updated and completed “Tran Report,” which has never been released despite repeated industry requests and promises by CARB Chair Mary Nichols.

We may, under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) Article 7: Review of Existing Regulations 11349.7-11349.9, ask for the reanalysis of PM or diesel PM as a toxic air contaminant (TAC). If UC Berkeley Prof. Jerrett ever finishes his California-specific study, the first report of its kind, he claims, we believe that there will be enough research available to determine whether or not PM, and especially diesel PM, is linked to any premature deaths in this state. If there is no proof, as we suspect, then diesel should be removed from the list of TAC’s.

Then the key members of the SRP should be subpoenaed and hopefully indicted on fraud, a pattern of academic and health science racketeering and exclusion to benefit themselves and their publicly funded schools. We believe much of this could be challenged under the RICO act, maybe even a Bivins suit.