California is joining with seven other states and the District of Columbia in committing to develop an action plan to put hundreds of thousands more zero-emission trucks and buses on their roads and highways. The partners will present a proposed memorandum of understanding to the governors of the states and the mayor of the District of Columbia for consideration in the summer of 2020.
The Statement of Intent comes as the California Air Resources Board (ARB) holds its first meeting to consider a proposed Advanced Clean Trucks regulation that would establish sales and reporting requirements for zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The board is expected to consider the first-of-its-kind regulation for adoption next year.
Trucks are increasingly a major contributor to air pollution nationwide, but especially in our cities where they are among the largest sources of toxic emissions in vulnerable neighborhoods. We need to design a regulatory program that gets to the heart of this problem. We will move farther faster in partnership with other states who share the same commitment to cleaning up trucks and protecting public health.
—CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols
States joining with California on the effort to accelerate deployment of zero-emission trucks and buses are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.This new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle collaborative effort will also be implemented through the ZEV Task Force and facilitated by NESCAUM. It will pursue similar coordinated action with industry and stakeholders to identify and address cost, fueling infrastructure, and other barriers.