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California Air Resources Board to Hold Informational Course on Cargo Truck Regulation

Tuesday, 02 March 2010
Contact: Marguerite Elicone (619) 686-6222

The California Air Resources Board (CARB), will be holding an informational course for cargo truck operators on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The course will be held in the board room of the Port of San Diego's administration building, 3165 Pacific Highway, San Diego. The course will help cargo truck owners and operators understand a recent state regulation affecting their operations and provide information on the health effects of diesel exhaust exposure.

The trucks are referred to as drayage trucks and are used for transporting cargo to and from marine terminals. They run on diesel fuel and weigh more than 33,000 pounds. To limit the air pollution from these trucks, CARB implemented a new regulation (PDF) requiring them to meet specific emissions criteria.

The regulation required truck owners to register their operator information with the California Air Resources Board truck registry by October 1, 2009. The regulation also required truck engines to meet specific emissions criteria by January 1, 2010. As part of the regulation, trucks with model year engines older than 1994 were to be taken out of port service or be equipped with newer, cleaner burning engines. In addition, trucks with model year engines between 1994-2003 would be required to install a special filter designed to cut emissions.

All California ports have tracking and reporting requirements as part of the CARB regulation. Ports must monitor the trucks accessing marine terminals and submit quarterly reports to CARB of all non-compliant trucks. The Port of San Diego began tracking trucks at its Tenth Avenue and National City Marine Terminals on October 1, 2009. The first quarterly report covers the period from October 1 through December 31, 2009 and was submitted to CARB on February 15, 2010. More than 10,000 trucks visited the marine terminals and about half of those did not comply with the CARB registration regulations.

CARB is the agency that enforces the regulations and will be implementing a stricter enforcement program to ensure compliance. Although the regulation requires ports to monitor trucks accessing the terminals, it does not require ports to ban the non-compliant trucks.

During the March 23 informational course, staff from CARB's Enforcement Division will provide information and discuss regulatory provisions dealing with diesel particulate and NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions from drayage trucks. The course will also cover the health effects of diesel exhaust exposure, registry requirements, inspection techniques and enforcement information. Truck owners and operators can register for the course online.