The California Air Resources Board had decided not to enforce its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation as it awaits approval from the federal government.
On Thursday, Dec. 28, CARB issued an enforcement notice informing the public that it will not enforce the regulation, which was supposed to go into effect for certain fleets on Jan. 1.
Requiring 100% of manufacturers’ sales be zero-emission trucks by 2036, the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation was approved by CARB last April. However, California cannot unilaterally establish emission standards that are stricter than federal standards. It first must receive a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A request for that waiver was not submitted until Nov. 15. In its enforcement notice, CARB said it is waiting for the EPA to approve that waiver or deem it unnecessary before moving forward with enforcing the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation.
Advanced Clean Fleets regulation
The Advanced Clean Fleets regulation requires certain fleets to move to zero-emission trucks with a phase-in timeline.
Only drayage fleets, state/local agencies and high-priority fleets are affected by the regulation. High-priority fleets are those with 50 or more vehicles, fleets with more than $50 million in annual revenue, federal government fleets or entities that hire or dispatch fleets.
Per the regulation, drayage trucks must be registered in the Truck Regulation Upload, Compliance and Reporting System (TRUCRS) to conduct drayage activities in California. Traditional diesel trucks had until Sunday, Dec. 31 to register with the system. Those trucks are allowed to operate in the state throughout their minimum useful life.
Beginning Monday, Jan. 1, only zero-emission drayage trucks can register in TRUCRS. All drayage trucks entering seaports and intermodal railyards are required to be zero-emission by 2035.
Rules for high-priority fleets are slightly different. Like drayage fleets, high-priority fleets must purchase only zero-emission trucks beginning Monday, Jan. 1. Rather than register trucks in TRUCRS, high-priority fleets initially must submit a compliance report by Feb. 1.
Notice of Enforcement
Although Advanced Clean Fleets has been put on pause, CARB is urging fleets to voluntarily submit to the rules.
CARB’s decision not to enforce Advanced Clean Fleets rules means that affected fleets can get away with adding diesel trucks to their operations, for now. However, the enforcement notice makes it clear that fleets that do so may have to reverse their actions. Fleets adding diesel trucks after Sunday, Dec. 31 likely will receive the following notice from CARB:
“Any combustion-powered vehicles added into service in California in high-priority or federal fleets after Dec. 31, 2023, may be restricted from operating once the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants California a waiver for the regulation pursuant to section 209 of the federal Clean Air Act or determines no such waiver is necessary. Once the waiver is granted or determined to be unnecessary, fleets may need to remove any vehicle from the California fleet that was not eligible to be added to the California fleet after Jan. 1, 2024, or the fleet must elect to comply with the Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Milestone Option instead of the Model Year Schedule.”
It could take months for the EPA to respond to the waiver. And as the CARB notice warns, if the EPA decides to grant the waiver, non-compliant trucks added in the meantime can be removed from fleets.
Lawsuit
While the EPA waiver is pending, a federal lawsuit is trying to prevent the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation from playing out at all.
In October, the California Truck Association filed a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of the regulation. Although CARB is temporarily halting enforcement, the lawsuit argues that the EPA should not grant the waiver, putting an end to the regulation.
“(The California Trucking Association) and its members will suffer irreparable harm if CARB’s implementation and enforcement of (Advanced Clean Fleets) is not enjoined,” the lawsuit states. “The impact of (Advanced Clean Fleets) on the efficiency of the nation’s logistics system is significant, and the economic loss attributable to delays, equipment shortages, and interference with dispatching and the efficient allocation of freight vehicles is not capable of clear calculation. The threat of facing substantial and perpetually ongoing economic sanctions for noncompliance also threatens to cause (the California Trucking Association’s) members and other local and interstate commercial transportation and logistics operators doing business in California, together with their customers and the public-at-large, irreparable harm.” LL
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