Trucking industry groups such as the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) are cheering California regulators’ move this week to end the campaign to require truck fleets to use zero-emission vehicles in the state.
That effort was intended to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by mandating a transition from diesel-powered trucks to battery electric versions staged over a period of years. The plan included a provision that all trucks sold in California had to be zero emission by 2036 and that all trucks operated in the state had to be zero emission by 2042.
However, California on Monday withdrew its petition for the Clean Air Act (CAA) waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for California Air Resources Board's (CARB) Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation. According to NMFTA, the stated reasoning behind the decision to withdraw the waiver petition was because California officials assumed that incoming President Trump would deny the waiver once he took office.
Following that move, the NMFTA says it will now also push to overturn additional “unattainable regulations,” including the GHG Phase 3 rule and CARB’s Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule. “We anticipate a flurry of activity at the EPA once the new Administration takes office. This may include Executive Orders regarding the enforcement of GHG Phase 3 and the rescission of the ACT waiver. We will keep you updated,” NMFTA said in a release.
But the group also said it would continue to seek GHG reductions through different strategies. “We do not view this as a pause on the industry’s efforts to manufacture and operate cleaner trucks. To the contrary, we view this as an opportunity for manufacturers and fleets to focus on alternative fuel options, such as renewable natural gas and biodiesel,” NMFTA said.
In a similar move this week, CARB this week also withdrew from its efforts to gain federal approval for a similar rule that would have required the use of zero-emission locomotives in the state under certain conditions. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) had long been opposing that “In-Use Locomotive Regulation” in court.
