Bad CARBs
17th October 2022
One of the most powerful environmental regulators in the country is set to upturn a critical part of the trucking industry—again. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has opened up a public comment period until October 27 on a new proposed rule, the Advanced Clean Fleet rule, which would ban the sale of diesel-fueled commercial vehicles in California by 2030.
No one knows exactly how this rule will play out in the years to come, least of all CARB, which does not concern itself with details like the lengths of haul run by the trucking carriers based in California, the performance characteristics of commercially available battery-electric vehicles, or indeed their affordability and total cost of ownership. As technology advances, we’re told, the logic of the Board’s decision will be revealed in the fullness of time.
The rule being considered by California regulators today bears all the hallmarks of a regulation concocted deep in the bowels of CARB, hermetically sealed off from any consideration of the operating models of California truckers. Californian carriers are crucial links in the national supply chain, because not only do they connect North America’s largest port complex at Los Angeles and Long Beach to the rest of the country, but they also keep the nation fed with Californian produce.