On December 18, the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC), an alliance of transportation stakeholders committed to a clean energy future for the commercial vehicle industry, sent a letter to the country’s major heavy-duty OEMs urging them to abandon their Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) agreement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
The CFC letter comes one month after Nebraska's attorney general, Mike Hilger, announced an antitrust lawsuit against these manufacturers for the agreement, on the grounds of conspiring to force a transition to electric trucks.
Read more: Nebraska sues truck manufacturers over clean trucks | Fleet Maintenance
“The Clean Truck Partnership agreement entered between your companies and CARB has served as tacit approval of the regulatory timelines and requirements mandated by CARB,” wrote CFC executive director Jim Mullen.
The CFC stated that the recently enacted emissions regulations from the EPA and CARB will heavily impact the sector, and have caused concerns over potential shortages of internal combustion engines and trucks.
"California’s one-size-fits-all regulations fail to account for the unique operational requirements of the commercial vehicle industry," Mullen emphasized.
“As the industry embarks on a new year and new Administration, industry collaboration is needed to reset and revise government standards that have been put in place," Mullen wrote in the letter. "To set achievable national emissions standards, truck manufacturers should abandon the CTP and are encouraged to work with industry partners to block harmful regulations that do not set us on a path to success.
“History has proven that our industry can overcome obstacles of any nature when stakeholders are aligned," Mullen concluded in the CFC letter. "This obstacle is no different.”
OOIDA strikes back at Omnibus waiver
Also on December 18, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is granting a request from CARB for a waiver to implement and enforce its “Omnibus” low-NOx regulations, which impose stricter exhaust emission standards for NOx for heavy-duty engines in 2024 and later.
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) President Todd Spencer had this to say regarding the waiver:
“The Omnibus Low-NOx waiver for California calls into question the policymaking process under the Biden administration's EPA. Purposefully injecting uncertainty into a $588 billion American industry is bad for our economy and makes no meaningful progress towards purported environmental goals. EPA's credibility outside of radical environmental circles would have been better served by working with regulated industries rather than ramming through last-minute special interest favors. We look forward to working with the Trump administration's EPA in good faith towards achievable environmental outcomes.”
