California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

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,

We have received many conflicting comments from CARB staff and dozens of questions concerning the entire reporting aspect of this regulation. It is extremely unclear now who has to report and when. If you call CARB and they instruct you as to how to comply, it is highly recommended that you get it all in writing because it is likely wrong and you will be the one getting fined. And at this point, you have no way to dispute, no options except in court.

On Friday, December 2, CARB's This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it emailed a notice to some subscribers further confusing the regulatory compliance and reporting requirements in these regulations. (See page 12, Dec 2011 CTN)

If you want to report your fleet – well, that doesn't work either!

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 still 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, compliance and reporting requirements, I suggest that you see Sean Edgar's detailed report on our website or his. We are endorsing Sean's services at CleanFleeets.com for compliance consulting. At $99 per 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.

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. Californians already pay a 40-50-cent-per-gallon premium for special 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.