Diesel rule requires odometers to be checked on Jan. 1

Issue Date: December 16, 2009

By Christine Souza
Assistant Editor

It's not a News Year's Day tradition that anyone looks forward to but, with the first reporting deadline looming to comply with the state Air Resources Board rule to regulate diesel truck emissions, a California Farm Bureau Federation specialist reminds farmers and ranchers to record the odometer readings of qualifying agricultural vehicles in their fleets.

"Agricultural fleets reporting on March 31, 2010, must provide the odometer reading of their vehicles as of Jan.1, 2010," said Cynthia Cory, CFBF director of environmental affairs. "Despite our best efforts, we have not yet been able to get a form from ARB, so we are just going to inform our folks of the situation as it stands, yet I am really frustrated that the form is not yet available."

During a breakout session on the topic during the CFBF Annual Meeting in Anaheim last week, state ARB Air Quality Engineer Ron Nunes told Farm Bureau members that the agency was hoping to have the ARB forms for recording truck and odometer reading information sometime this week. The forms were not finalized as of the Ag Alert deadline.

The agricultural vehicles will still have to comply with new rules designed to reduce emissions, but due to their inherently lower mileage have been given more time to accomplish retrofitting or replacement needed to meet the new ARB standard for nitrogen oxides and diesel particulate matter.

Many farm trucks have until Jan. 1, 2017, to meet the standard, but those trucks used less frequently—under 10,000 miles annually—have until Jan. 1, 2023.

At a state ARB hearing last week, the board directed its staff to propose amendments to the Truck and Bus Regulation that would provide additional flexibility for certain-sized fleets (except agricultural trucks) adversely affected by the economy. The ARB did not include agricultural vehicles in this potential truck implementation delay, Cory said, because they believe the agricultural provisions are fair and the majority of farmers and ranchers will be able to take advantage of the delayed compliance schedule not available to those operating trucks for other purposes.

The board asked staff to evaluate alternatives for trucks not able to take advantage of the agricultural provisions that would still meet emission targets by focusing on smaller businesses and consideration of delaying their reporting date. Staff plans to hold public workshops in early 2010 to obtain stakeholder input on their new proposed alternatives.

For fleets with qualifying agricultural vehicles, the reporting deadline remains slated as March 31, 2010.

An important deadline comes soon for diesel truck operators in order to comply with the state Air Resources Board rules on diesel truck emissions.

CFBF Director Shannon Wooten, a beekeeper and queen breeder in Palo Cedro, said he's concerned about how this diesel truck rule will impact the apiary sector, those in-state and out-of-state beekeepers who arrive in California almond orchards each year during bloom with bees to pollinate the trees.

"This diesel truck rule is going to impact us for sure, because so many people are transporting loads of bees into the almonds. A lot of these guys are one- or two-man operations and they are running with one or two trucks and they can't afford the retrofits," Wooten said. "The out-of-state guy doesn't keep up with California state laws, so if they come here once the rule is implemented to put their bees in the almonds and he lands at the border and they say, 'You're not diesel retrofitted or have the right age engine. You are not going in,' logistically it is going to be an absolute nightmare."

Siskiyou County hay grower Brandon Fawaz, who also operates a chemical and fertilizer application business, said whatever additional costs he incurs as a result of the regulation will have to be passed on to his customers.

"A majority of my business is selling and applying chemicals and fertilizer and all of my support equipment at some point is going to be regulated," Fawaz said. "If I have to upgrade equipment that is specialized and is not cheap, I will have to pass that on in the price of selling and applying fertilizer and chemicals."

Special provisions for agricultural vehicles apply to:

Pickups and other vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of less than 19,500 GVWR.
Most off-road vehicles.
"Low use" vehicles, which means those operating less than 100 hours and 1,000 miles per year.
Limited-mileage agricultural vehicles would be exempt until Jan. 1, 2017. Limited mileage for agricultural vehicles would be defined as operating less than 15,000 miles per year for pre-1996 model-year engines; 20,000 miles per year for 1996 through 2005 model-year engines; or 25,000 miles per year for 2006 or newer model-year engines.
Low-mileage agricultural vehicles operating less than 10,000 miles per year would not have to comply until Jan. 1, 2023.
Specialty agricultural vehicles also would be exempt until Jan. 1, 2023. These vehicles would include nurse rigs, cotton module movers, water trucks, feed trucks or mixer-feed trucks used exclusively at feedlots.
"NOx Mileage Exempt Vehicles" in certain counties would be limited to heavy-duty vehicles (GVWR greater than 33,000 pounds) operated less than 7,500 miles, and medium heavy-duty vehicles (GVWR 14,000 pounds-33,000 pounds) operated less than 5,000 miles. But the proposed regulation still requires diesel particulate filters, installation of an electronic tracking system for determining hours of use and replacement of the truck by Dec. 31, 2020, for these vehicles operating in certain counties.

(Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top