California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

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

Now if you want to report your fleet information early to CARB so that you can exercise many of the extensions of the rule, you need to go to CARB’s Truck and Bus Regulation, Truck and Bus Upload and Compliance Reporting System. Unfortunately,  when you go to this site this is the message that comes up:

Please note: The Truck and Bus Upload and Compliance Reporting System (TRUCRS) is temporarily shut down for maintenance. Reporting of agricultural vehicles is now closed. When TRUCRS becomes available, only changes to fleets that have already reported will be allowed. TRUCRS will be available at the end of the year for all fleets to report compliance and to take advantage of credits and other special provisions.

For more details concerning the CARB regulations and compliance requirements, I suggest that you also go to Sean’s detailed report on page 14, we are endorsing Sean’s Services ad CleanFleeets.com for compliance consulting. At $99/truck, you will get expert advice about ALL of CARB’s many regulatory compliance requirements – and believe me there are numerous requirements. None of this is new.
Here is some additional CARB Highlights you should be aware of:

• CDTOA strongly lobbied for and received a Special dump truck 20,000 low-mileage extension. We also lobbied along with other CIAQC member associations for other construction vehicles which received a 15,000 extension. The last rule changes extend the compliance window two additional years for these vehicles. The rest got nothing because their associations were not at the table fighting for their members!
• We will continue to educate members concerning CARB compliance options, reporting options and broker liabilities.
• CARB Suspends sales of certain Diesel Particulate Filters DPF’s, specifically the Cleaire LongMile and AllMetal due to potential melt-downs and fire hazards. Regulatory Advisors can be found on CARB’s, CDTOA’s and the manufacturers’ websites. Apparently, this affects only DPF’s on high horsepower (370 hp or more) EGR engines. 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 replaced with approved products from Donaldson, J&M or ECF.
• CARB Board Adopts Nation’s Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan: California has cap & trade – or will once the program starts ramping up next year. The scheme was approved this month by the state’s Air Resources Board which chair Mary Nichols described as like “moving a large army a few feet in one direction.” Opponents, whom are growing daily, say the cost to California’s economy and taxpayers will be at least an additional $40 – billion a year. One energy producer, the High Desert Power Project, told CARB the cost of the carbon credits it would need for its electrical generating plant “could far exceed $16 million and even approach $80 million” a year, either of which would “cripple” a plant that produces about 4 million megawatts of power for California annually. And that’s just one emissions source. Multiply that impact times all the plants producing the state’s electricity, natural gas, petroleum products, cement and industrial gases and you begin to see why it’s estimated AB 32 will come to cost Californians $180 billion a year. That translates to 1.1 million lost jobs, as companies leave California for states that don’t have cap-and-trade programs, and unreasonable energy costs – there are now 49 such states from which to choose as no other state is likely to adopt such regulations. Many believe this will doom all manufacturing in this state.
• CARB’s Low Carbon fuel is another environmental scam to push people out of their vehicles by increasing the cost of the fuel we use. This rule will add enormous costs to diesel and gasoline fuels, and extract billions from energy companies and consumers. Californian’s already pay a 40-50-cent a gallon premium for specially CARB formulated fuels which really do nothing for the environment. The Ad hoc trucking group from last year will contribute $2,000 of unspent funds along with other industry groups to hire a research consultant to perform an in-depth study on the mostly economic effects of this next anti-business regulation to hit our industry.