ALLIANCE FOR CALIFORNIA BUSINESS
Press Release – November 11, 2013
Contact: Steve Caldwell, allianceforca@gmail.com; telephone – 530-342-6511
Glenn County – Lawsuit filed by local business group against California Air Resources Board (CARB)
challenging the legality of the Truck and Bus Regulation. The complaint includes allegations that CARB
executive officers failed to disclose to the public vital information that it had about the defective design
of the Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) that the state agency is requiring California truck owners to install
by January 1, 2014.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Alliance for California Business, is a non-profit organization whose
purpose is to protect and promote business growth throughout California, including Glenn
County. Its members include truck owners and operators who provide transportation of
agricultural products and other commercial goods from rural communities to points of production
and distribution locally and throughout California.
The DPF, in its various iterations and designs, has caused innumerable problems for ACB
members and truck owners throughout the state. CARB has promoted the DPF to reduce diesel
particulate matter generated by diesel trucks. Due to the complicated design and maintenance
requirements, the DPF in operation has numerous negative environmental impacts. The DPF is
mechanically unsound causing trucks to break down on highways and require days (sometimes
weeks) of repair efforts to get them back on road. The DPF has caused fires and destroyed truck
engines. This device is not designed for use on short distance travel routes, and commonly
malfunctions as a result. The malfunction requires these truck owners to drive empty trucks on
the road for longer distances without stops, serving no commercial purpose other than to burn off
soot buildup in the DPF. The inevitable fallout of these DPF malfunctions is increased use of
energy, fuel and an increase in air pollution.
The DPF has caused massive financial harm to California truck owners, who must pay up to
$20,000 for each DPF device and then deal with constant repair bills and loss of income due to
inoperable trucks. CARB boasts of many choices of “CARB-approved” manufacturers to choose
from, but offers no financial assistance for those financially crippled by the design defects in
these products.
While Alliance for California Business and its members wholeheartedly support clean air and
cleaner diesel trucks, the Truck and Bus Regulation is an extreme and economically risky
response to far less pervasive and urgent air quality issues in the rural counties of Northern
California, including Glenn County. CARB is mandating a “one size fits all” regulatory scheme
for trucks throughout the State of California, notwithstanding the fact that Northern California
counties, such as Glenn County, have significantly better air quality than other parts of the state.
Alliance for California Business is requesting that the Glenn County Superior Court enjoin the
implementation of portions of the Truck and Bus Regulation, particularly the CARB-imposed
deadline of January 1, 2014, which requires that thousands of on-road trucks be either fitted with
the DPF or taken off the road.
Thanks. Godspeed.