This article is taken from the January 4, 2024 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is allowing flexibility with some reporting requirements mandated under its Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule, which is set to take effect this year (see, also, Grain Transportation Report, December 21, 2023, third highlight). In a December 27 letter to the California Trucking Association (CTA), CARB said it will not, for now, enforce the rule’s requirement that “high-priority or drayage fleets” must submit a compliance report or that only zero-emission drayage trucks may register in the CARB online system. Last October, CTA filed a lawsuit to block ACF’s enforcement.
CARB will suspend its enforcement of these requirements until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responded. The Clean Air Act’s “preemption clause” prevents States from enacting emissions standards for new motor vehicles. However, EPA could grant a waiver of the preemption clause for CARB’s regulatory provisions in question, allowing them to be enforced.
Last year, CARB obtained an EPA waiver of preemption for some other ACF provisions