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.

 

Click here for a report in the Chico Enterprise-Record