Air Resources Board schedules Public Workshops to Cover Proposed Amendments to Off-Road Equipment and Truck & Bus Regulations
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has scheduled a series of public workshops to discuss proposed amendments to the Off-Road Equipment and Truck & Bus Regulations. The workshops will be held on the following dates:
- June 23, 2010, Fresno
- June 28, 2010, Sacramento
- July 1, 2010, El Monte
- July 6, 2010, San Diego
(The Sacramento workshop will be webcast at the California EPA site).
CARB states that the purpose of the workshops is to provide further detail about the proposed amendments to the regulations. CARB will also discuss proposed amendments to the tractor-trailer Green House Gas (GHG) regulation to allow additional flexibility and clarify regulatory requirements. Click here to view a copy of the workshop notice that contains additional information about the times, locations and purpose for the workshops.
In April the CARB Board directed its staff to develop changes to the off-road equipment and truck & bus regulations that would reduce their economic impact during the ongoing economic recession, while continuing to protect public health, meet federal clean air deadlines and move forward through uncertain economic times. The Board also directed staff to consider approaches that give credit to companies that have already taken steps to comply with the performance requirements of the regulations. CARB staff is “tentatively scheduled” to bring proposed amendments to the regulations before its Board in September 2010. These workshops follow those held in May, 2010 to discuss general proposals to amend the off-road equipment as well as the truck & bus regulations and the underlying emission inventories of both.
The Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition (CIAQC) has been deeply engaged in the regulatory update process and participated in the workshops in May and will attend the upcoming workshops. CIAQC is hard at work to develop sound and economically meaningful alternatives to offer to CARB for the off-road equipment and truck & bus regulations. It is doing so based on the latest findings from an independent analysis of the emissions model CARB used to originally develop the off-road regulation. The analysis concludes that CARB vastly overestimated the emissions from the off-road fleet and that the regulation’s requirements go far beyond what is necessary to achieve clean air. CIAQC is also currently working with other California truck owners on an analysis of CARB’s on-road emissions model to develop economically reasonable recommendations for the truck regulation.
We do not know when CARB staff will have the June and July workshop materials publically available. Based on past performance, CIAQC anticipates CARB will have its handouts and latest thinking ready close to the first workshop on June 23, 2010. Stay tuned and check back with CIAQC’s website for the latest news and information. CIAQC will post CARB’s workshop material as soon as it becomes available.