October 28, 2011

Important Notice For Any Trailer Owner with Trailers Operating in California

On August 1, 2011, the deadline for “large” motor carriers and other trailer fleet owners (those with 21 or more trailers) to seek delayed compliance with the Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulation (“GHG Regulation”) of the California Air Resource Board (“CARB”) passed. For any large motor carrier that did not seek to file a delayed compliance plan, the GHG Regulation requires, with very few exceptions, that each 2010 model year or older 53 feet or longer trailer operating in California must either be SmartWay Certified or must be retrofitted with fuel saving technologies by January 1, 2013. The effect of filing a delayed compliance plan was to allow carriers to stagger compliance (e.g., bring 20% of the California fleet into compliance per year until 100% compliance is reached on January 1, 2016), thereby avoiding a 100% compliance obligation on January 1, 2013.

It has come to our attention that a significant number of motor carriers may not have received notice of the passing of the deadline to file delayed compliance plans, or even that the filing of such plans was an option. The firm is investigating the potential for late-submittal of plans that would provide carriers that did not file with a staggered compliance option so as to avoid a 100% compliance requirement by January 1, 2013. If your company would be interested in investigating whether such relief is available, please do not hesitate to contact us. If your company maintains a trailer fleet of 20 or fewer trailers, the deadline for filing a delayed compliance plan is July 1, 2012. We have conferred with the American Trucking Associations, Inc and it has advised the firm it is sending out alerts and working through this issue with its experts to possibly obtain relief on the deadline problem. It concurs with the firm that preparing and submitting a proper filing immediately is a prudent step despite the passage of the deadline.