CARB Seeks EPA Approval for Amendments to 2011 Reefer Unit Emissions Regulations
The California Air Resources Board has asked that amendments to its regulation setting standards for pollution control in diesel-fueled transport refrigeration units be approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In a Nov. 17 Federal Register announcement, EPA said it received the request for approval in March. If EPA agrees to the amendments, CARB would be permitted to begin enforcement.
The TRU regulation targets small diesel engines that maintain specified temperatures in trailers that travel on highways and that are stationed at various facilities.
“CARB’s TRU regulations require TRU engines to meet in-use standards that vary by horsepower range and have two levels of emissions stringency — low-emissions and ultra-low-emissions transport refrigeration units that are phased in over time,” EPA’s posting said.
The amendments, issued in October 2011, provide owners of certain 2001 through 2003 model-year TRU engines that currently comply with in-use performance standards a one-year extension of the deadline to comply with the more stringent in-use standards.
They were part of an effort to bridge uncertainty between CARB’s original TRU regulation and the EPA formal waiver allowing enforcement, said Mike Tunnell, director of environmental affairs for American Trucking Associations.
Also included in CARB’s request was an amendment that would extend compliance dates when compliant technology is unavailable or delayed and that would allow in-use performance standards and associated compliance deadlines to be based on the year the TRU was manufactured instead of the TRU engine’s model year, EPA said.
The amendments also clarify manual record-keeping requirements for electric standby-equipped TRUs and ultimately require automated tracking system requirements for the TRUs. There also are requirements for businesses that arrange, hire, contract or dispatch the transport of goods in TRU-equipped trucks, trailers or containers.
The amendments were issued after CARB gained a waiver from EPA in January 2010, Alex Wang, a CARB staff attorney, told Transport Topics.
“This is basically CARB’s request that EPA give it permission to enforce the latest round of amendments to the TRU regulation,” Wang said.
He added, “We’ve given some additional flexibility for some of the people that complied with the earlier deadlines to provide some fairness. Some people complied earlier with the deadlines, even though it was questionable whether they had to.”
EPA has tentatively scheduled a public hearing for Jan. 6 in Washington and is accepting written comments on CARB’s amendment approval request until Feb. 8.
