Sep 21, 2009 9:07 AM

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has issued revised language to its regulation for reducing greenhouse gases from heavy-duty vehicles. The proposal now says the rule applies to motor carriers that use—or cause to be used—53-foot box-type trailers and the tractors that pull them in long-haul operations within, into, and out of California.

Comments on these proposed revisions are due October 2, 2009, with the final regulation expected in November.

Often designated the “SmartWay rule” because it mandates use of equipment certified or verified by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program, the proposal’s requirements would take effect on model year 2011 and newer equipment purchased on or after Jan 1, 2010.

New trailers and sleeper-equipped tractors would have to use aerodynamic devices or styling and low-rolling-resistance tires; day cabs would have to have low-rolling-resistance tires. Older trailers would have to be retrofit by Jan 1, 2013, though CARB has an option of a phase-in schedule that gives carriers more time for trailers to be retrofit. Older tractors would have to be equipped with low-rolling-resistance tires by Jan 1, 2012, but tractors older than model year 2010 would not have to be modified for aerodynamic performance.

Changes from CARB’s December 2008 draft include:

•Requiring that carriers using the trailer phase-in option retrofit newest trailers first.

•Exempting refuse and livestock trailers.

•Redefining a “fleet” as all equipment held under common ownership or control even if operated in different subsidiaries or divisions.

•Clarifying definitions of refrigerated van trailer, curtainside trailer, drop-frame trailer, dry van trailer, cabside extender, flow control device, front trailer fairing, sleeper cab, and trailer side skirt.

•Clarifying the definition of “owner” to specify more precisely the parties responsible for compliance.

•Altering the definition of “short-haul tractor” to refer only to tractors that travel less than 50,000 miles per year.

•Adding definitions for “local-haul tractor” and “local-haul trailer” to describe tractors and trailers that travel within a 100-mile radius of their local haul base.

Visit www.arb.ca.gov/ for more information.