California board continuing to push for less pollution from diesel trucks
The California Air Resources Board recently voted to enact a sweeping, complicated series of rules aimed at reducing the pollution output of heavy-duty diesel trucks.
It’s the board’s second rule this year aimed at such vehicles, after the board voted in June to require manufacturers of diesel trucks and vans to transition to all-electric sales by 2045.
While that rule is aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses emitted by heavy-duty vehicles, the new regulation focuses on the health benefits of cleaner air.
Board chairwoman Mary Nichols said in a statement that the ruling “ensures that conventional diesel trucks will run as cleanly as possible at every point in their duty cycle.”
“It takes a significant bite out of smog-forming pollution in every region in the state, and will make a major contribution to cleaning the air in communities close to ports, railyards and distribution centers that are now most heavily impacted by pollution from heavy truck traffic,” Nichols said.
The “Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus Reg
ulation,” as it is called, requires vehicle manufacturers to build diesel vehicles with stricter emissions standards aimed at reducing the amount oxides of nitrogen (NOx) that they produce. Those emissions are a major component of smog.
Smog has been shown to irritate the respiratory system, reduce lung function, aggravate respiratory conditions such as asthma, and inflame and damage the lining of the lung, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The rule also requires manufacturers to overhaul engine testing procedures and extend engine warranties.
Heavy-duty trucks account for nearly one-third of all oxide of nitrogen emissions in California.
The rule is expected to cut such emissions to 75% below current standards in 2024, and 90% in 2027, according to an air board analysis. By 2031, the air board says, the emission reductions will result in the equivalent of 16 million cars being taken off of the road.
As Nichols put it during the meeting in late August, “Moving ahead with this regulation is absolutely critical to meeting our obligations under the (federal) Clean Air Act.”
Federal law requires that the state place areas with unhealthy amounts of pollution under a State Implementation Plan, which are “comprehensive plans that describe how an area will attain national ambient air quality standards.”
This regulation is a “critical” measure for reaching those air quality goals, according to a board analysis.
Cutting emissions would result in thousands fewer premature deaths, hundreds fewer hospitalizations for cardiovascular or acute respiratory conditions and hundreds fewer emergency room visits, according to a board analysis.
The regulation will cost manufacturers an estimated $4.1 billion to implement, with the bulk of the cost due to new technology and procedures for meeting the new certification requirements in order to meet the new standards and cover the lengthened warranties, according to the Air Resources Board.
The regulation will result in an estimated less than 6% increase in the cost of new heavy trucks in California.
However, the air board estimates these regulations will save the state an estimated $36.8 billion in monetized health benefits, primarily by preventing an estimated 3,894 premature deaths.
The decision was greeted with mixed reviews by the Sierra Club.
Sierra Club spokeswoman Katherine Garcia said that while the group is happy to see the board strengthening emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles powered by fossil fuels, their emphasis remains on shifting away from fossil fuel-powered vehicles entirely.
“Fortunately, the technology for zero-emission trucks is developing so quickly that the question of how clean trucks that burn fossil fuels are won’t be necessary very soon. It will just be a factoid we tell our grandkids about the way things were in the old days when we had to breathe toxic diesel fumes,” Garcia said.
The move was greeted less enthusiastically by the oil industry.
“The development of this rule should have been done in conjunction with (the regulation requiring sales of zero-emission trucks) to give the public and policymakers the opportunity to identify all pathways for reducing emissions,” said Tiffany Roberts, vice president for regulatory affairs at the Western States Petroleum Association. “The piecemeal approach leaves possible reductions on the table.”