BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1507
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1507
AUTHOR: Fuller
AMENDED: April 25, 2012
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: May 14, 2012
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Peter Cowan
SUBJECT : CALIFORNIA GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS ACT:
TRACTOR-TRAILERS: EXEMPTION
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the California Global Warming Solutions
Act of 2006 (CGWSA):
1) Requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to
determine the 1990 statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
level and approve a statewide GHG emissions limit that is
equivalent to that level, to be achieved by 2020. ARB must
adopt regulations for reporting and verification of GHG
emissions, monitoring and compliance with the program, and
achieving GHG emission reductions from sources or
categories of sources by January 1, 2011, to be operative
on January 1, 2012, subject to certain requirements.
(Health and Safety Code �38500 et seq.).
2) Requires ARB on or before June 30, 2007, to publish and
make available a list of discrete early action GHG
reduction measures that can be implemented prior to the
above measures and limits. On or before January 1, 2010,
ARB must adopt regulations to implement these early action
measures, and these regulations must be enforceable no
later than January 1, 2010. (�38560.5). An early action
measure regulation relating to reducing GHG emission from
heavy-duty tractors and 53-foot or longer box-type
semitrailers (trailers) was effective January 1, 2010
(referred to as the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) regulation).
(17 Cal. Code Regs. �95300).
3) Requires ARB to prepare and approve a scoping plan for
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achieving the maximum technologically feasible and
cost-effective reductions in GHG emissions from sources or
categories of sources of GHGs by 2020. ARB must evaluate
the total potential costs and total potential economic and
noneconomic benefits of the plan for reducing GHGs to the
state's economy, environment, and public health, using the
best economic models, emission estimation techniques, and
other scientific methods. The plan must be updated at
least once every five years. (Health and Safety Code
�38561).
4) Authorizes ARB to adopt GHG emission limits or emission
reduction measures prior to January 1, 2011, imposing those
limits or measures prior to January 1, 2012, or providing
early reduction credit where appropriate. (�38563).
This bill :
1) Makes legislative findings relating to the HDV regulation,
the economic analysis prepared during the rulemaking, and
the assumptions made in calculating the cost, cost-savings,
and GHG reductions.
2) Requires that any rule or regulation applying to owners or
drivers of heavy-duty tractors or the 53-foot or longer
trailers they pull pursuant to the CGWSA to include
exemptions for a tractor-trailer combination:
a) That travels within 100 air miles of the
tractor-trailer's base.
b) That returns to its base within 48 hours of traveling
outside of the 100-air-mile radius.
3) Specifies that it is an urgency measure, noting among facts
constituting the necessity that the ARB economic analysis
assumes trucks travel in excess of the 55 mile per hour
speed limit during 84% of their operation.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose . According to the author, SB 1507 "seeks to
provide administrative flexibility to owners of truck
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trailers subject to the �ARB HDV regulation]. ?Commercial
trucks and trailers are very seldom matched with one
another for extended periods of time on a 'one to one'
basis. This regulation allows exemptions for tractors that
travel under 50,000 miles annually or within a 100 mile
radius of a 'local haul terminal.' Because regulated
trailer owners often do not control the truck that picks up
their trailer, the current exemption structure is almost
impossible to administer? a time-based exemption would be
easier to administer because it would not rely on a trailer
owner having administrative control over the truck which
hauls it."
2) Background on the Heavy Duty Vehicle (HDV) Regulation . The
HDV regulation became effective on January 1, 2010 and
seeks to improve fuel efficiency, and thus reduce
associated GHG emissions, by requiring the use of
aerodynamic tractors and trailers that are also equipped
with low rolling resistance tires. The regulation builds
upon the voluntary United States Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) SmartWay (SmartWay) program which certifies
tractors and trailers and retrofit technologies that reduce
fuel use. The regulation requires that owners of 53-foot
or longer box-type trailers, and owners of the heavy-duty
tractors that pull them on California highways replace or
retrofit those tractors and trailers with compliant
aerodynamic technologies and low rolling resistance tires.
Beginning January 1, 2010, new tractors and trailers must
be SmartWay certified or retrofit with compliant technology
and use low rolling resistant tires. Beginning January 1,
2013, all 2010 and older model year tractors must use
verified low rolling resistant tires. Additionally,
trailers are required to have aerodynamic device retrofits
by January 1, 2013, or as prescribed by a fleet phase-in
plan, with all trailers having low rolling resistance tires
and aerodynamic devices by 2019.
ARB estimates the regulation will reduce statewide GHG
emissions by 1 million metric tons (MMT) of CO2 per year by
2020 and nationwide emissions by 6.7 MMT CO2.
Several tractor and truck categories are exempted, such as
authorized emergency vehicles, specified drayage tractors,
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and solid waste vehicles. The regulation also exempts
tractors and trailers they pull as long as the tractor
travels less than 50,000 miles per year. Local haul
tractors and trailers are those traveling within 100 miles
of the local haul tractors base and are exempted from the
aerodynamic device requirements, but must still have low
rolling resistance tires.
According to the regulation's Initial Statement of Reasons,
these and other exemptions reduce the covered vehicle miles
traveled (VMT) to approximately 38% of total VMT from heavy
duty trucks.
SB 1507 expands this current local haul exemption by:
a) Specifying the air miles for the 100-mile radius
rather than ground miles the bill increases the exempted
range to 115-120 miles.
b) Exempting any tractor-trailer combination that
returns to its local haul base within 48 hours of
leaving the 100-air-mile radius would allow trucks to
travel several hundred miles and remain exempt from the
HDV regulation.
These exemptions could significantly reduce the amount of
covered VMT, and exempt most intrastate and some interstate
HDV travel.
3) Economic analysis . The legislative findings and the
urgency provisions of SB 1507 refer to the economic
analysis for the HDV regulation which is based, in part, on
the fuel saving determined by US EPA in the SmartWay
certification and verification process which typically
relies on standardized tests of tractors and trailers
traveling at approximately 60 miles per hour (mph), above
the 55 mph allowed for heavy trucks in California. The
sponsors of SB 1507 note that operators in California would
not be able to achieve the fuel efficiencies that ARB
calculates without violating the Vehicle Code.
At least one US EPA study found reductions in fuel
consumption for various combinations of the SmartWay
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technologies, including aerodynamic devices alone, under a
variety of different operation patterns. Savings from the
use of aerodynamic devices when the tractor-trailer
combination did not exceed 50 mph, were negligible.
4) Achieving GHG Reduction Goals . Under the CGWSA, ARB is
required to develop a scoping plan for achieving the GHG
reduction goal established under the act (existing law #3).
In its scoping plan ARB anticipates 0.9 MMT CO2 reductions
resulting from the HDV regulation due to reduced fuel
consumption. ARB has also established a market-based
mechanism under the CGWSA, commonly referred to as
cap-and-trade, which will reduce emissions resulting from
various sources including, beginning in 2015,
transportation fuels. To the extent that reductions in GHG
emissions fall short of the scoping plan estimate, either
as a result of overestimation of the savings or due to
changes in the HDV regulation, they must be achieved by
other means such as new GHG reduction regulations or
through the cap-and-trade program. The requirement of
additional GHG reduction through the cap-and-trade
mechanism could increase compliance costs for entities
covered under that regulation.
5) Support concerns . The California Trucking Association
(CTA), sponsors of SB 1507, note that the fuel efficiency
improvements for aerodynamic devices estimated by ARB are
unlikely to be achieved by many trucking companies as they
seldom reach speeds used in those estimates. They also
have concerns that a rulemaking would make assumptions
about tractor-trailer speeds that presume significant
violation of speed limits. Additionally, CTA expressed
concerns that current exemptions in the regulation do not
provide the necessary flexibility to fleet managers to
dispatch trucks on routes of varying distance.
6) Outstanding Issues . Is it appropriate for interests that
participated in ARB's regulatory process to now seek
statutory exemptions from those regulations? How will such
exemptions affect the need for further reductions from
other sectors? Also, SB 1507 applies the expanded
exemption of local haul tractors and trailers not just to
requirement for aerodynamic devices, but to any GHG
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emission reduction rule or regulation under the CGWSA.
7) Double Referral to Senate Committee on Rules . If this
measure is approved by this committee, the do pass motion
must include the action to re-refer the bill to the Senate
Committee on Rules.
SOURCE : California Trucking Association
SUPPORT : None on file.
OPPOSITION : None on file.