California can move forward with its plan to ban the sale of new diesel-powered heavy-duty truck sales starting in 2036 after receiving Biden administration approval on March 31.
“Under the Clean Air Act, California has longstanding authority to address pollution from cars and trucks,“ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. ”Today’s announcement allows the state to take additional steps in reducing their transportation emissions through these new regulatory actions,”
The EPA, which sets air quality standards for vehicle emissions, has been granting waivers for the Golden State to impose standards stricter than the rest of the nation.
Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded the administration’s permit approval.
“This is a big deal for climate action,” he said in a statement. “Thanks to the Biden Administration, we’re getting more zero-emission heavy duty trucks on the roads, expanding our world-leading efforts to cut air pollution and protect public health.”
Newsom, a Democrat, has pushed for aggressive climate measures and a transition to zero-emission transportation in the past few years. He signed an executive order in 2020 (pdf) calling for new heavy-duty vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2045. However, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants to speed up the transition and will consider—at its April 27 meeting —mandating the change for heavier trucks starting Jan. 1, 2036.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs several new climate bills alongside several state legislators at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Regional Office on Mare Island, a facility powered by green energy in Vallejo, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2022. (Courtesy of the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom)
The governor’s executive order also aims for all new passenger cars and trucks sold in California to meet the same standard by 2035, which was already approved by CARB last year, making California one of the first in the world to impose such a restriction.
Several industry organizations, truck drivers, and residents are concerned about the speedy transition, including groups that use the busy Los Angeles and Long Beach ports to pick up overseas goods and deliver them across the country.
The American Trucking Associations criticized EPA’s permit approval on March 31.
“By granting California’s waiver for its so-called advanced clean trucks rule, the EPA is handing over the keys as a national regulator,” Chris Spear, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “This isn’t the United States of California, and in order to mollify a never-satisfied fringe environmental lobby by allowing the state to proceed with these technologically infeasible rules on unworkable and unrealistic timelines, the EPA is sowing the ground for a future supply chain crisis.”
Trucks make their way to the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on July 13, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
Companies with 50 or more vehicles would be required to meet the new standard.
The proposed regulations (pdf) would require all newly purchased drayage trucks—the diesel-fueled heavy-duty trucks that transport shipping containers and bulk freight from seaports to distribution centers—to be zero-emission starting in 2024, aiming for phasing out existing trucks that don’t meet the standard by Jan. 1, 2035. However, CARB would allow diesel-powered models to operate in the state until the end of their useful life.
Other vehicles that would have to meet the deadline would include box carriers, federal government fleets, off-road tractors, and light-duty delivery vehicles, according to CARB.
For state and local governments, half of all new vehicle purchases would have to be zero-emission from 2024 to 2026. After that, all purchases would have to be zero-emission.
Trucks loaded with shipping containers prepare to leave the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on Oct 27, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
The Chamber of Commerce in Otay Mesa, a community near San Diego along the southern border, told the board in a letter about their concerns over the lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, especially in Mexico.
About $60 billion in trade and up to 9,000 truck crossings per day move through Otay Mesa, Alejandra Mier y Teran, the chamber’s executive director, told The Epoch Times.
“They did this without any kind of analysis,” Teran said. “You have all these Mexican truckers that are crucial for the supply chains in California and there’s not even a possibility with Mexico to have zero-emissions charging stations. It’s crazy.”
The country has yet to develop a plan to install the infrastructure, she said.
While many companies have purchased newer trucks to comply, because of supply-chain delays, the vehicles won’t be delivered by next year’s deadline, Teran said. She asked the board for an exemption for those truckers but was uncertain if that will be granted.
California Fuels and Convenience Alliance, an organization that represents about 90 percent of the state’s independent gas stations and more than half of its convenience stores, sent a letter to CARB opposing the new rule.
“CFCA opposes the adoption of the Advanced Clean Fleets rule as it attempts to transition the goods movement economy too quickly without sufficient charging and fueling infrastructure, lacks consideration of California’s power grid failures, and has not conducted adequate cost analysis,” Alessandra Magnasco, the alliance’s policy manager, wrote in the letter.
Public comment for the proposed rules remains open until April 7.
A spokesperson for CARB didn’t return a request for comment about the upcoming meeting.
Jill McLaughlin is an award-winning journalist covering politics, environment, and statewide issues. She has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico. Jill was born in Yosemite National Park and enjoys the majestic outdoors, traveling, golfing, and hiking.
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