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: July 2, 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 trailers
subject to the �ARB HDV regulation]. ?Commercial trucks and
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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,
and solid waste vehicles. The regulation also exempts
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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
technologies, including aerodynamic devices alone, under a
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variety of different operation patterns. Savings from the
use of aerodynamic devices when the tractor-trailer
combination did not exceed 50 mph, were negligible.
Subsequent to the May 14, 2012, hearing of SB 1507, ARB
provided research to the committee on the use of
aerodynamic measures, including side skirts. The reports
included two articles by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, one by the Argonne National Laboratory and the Auto
Research Center (conducted in conjunction with ARB). These
reports find that the use of side skirts reduces fuel
consumption in all test scenarios, even suburban scenarios
where the average speed was 30.4 miles per hour (MPH). The
higher the average speed the greater the savings achieved.
Wind tunnel testing and recalculation of other tests show
fuel saving of 3-3.8% at 50 MPH and with greater savings at
higher speeds. Using these data ARB calculates the average
payback period at 50 MPH to be 18 months and at 65 MPH 12
months. According to Caltrans the average speed during 2011
for Class 7 and Class 8 vehicles, as measured by its 92
Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) stations deployed on the State
Highway System, was 56 mph. Caltrans cautions that WIM
system coverage is not compete and does not include travel
on local roads.
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.
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5) Support and opposition 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.
Opponents note that ARB regulations currently provide
exemptions, including an exemption for "local-haul"
trailers that remain within a 100 mile radius from their
garage. According to opponents the issue addressed by SB
1507 is already sufficiently addressed by these exemptions.
And, opponents express concern that the exemption for up to
48 hours of travel could diminish GHG reductions resulting
from the regulation and complicate enforcement.
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 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 : California Trucking Association
OPPOSITION : American Lung Association
Breathe California
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Coalition for Clean Air
Natural Resources Defense Council
Union of Concerned Scientists