THE aggressive California Air Resources Board (CARB) has suddenly withdrawn its request for a federal waiver to implement the state's Advanced Clean Fleets rule, reports New York's FreightWaves.
'Given that the Trump administration has not been supportive of some of the strategies that we have deployed in regulations, we thought it would be prudent to pull back and consider our options,' said carb chairwoman Liane Randolph.
In a brief letter to Jane Nishida, acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Steven Cliff, executive officer of the California Air Resources Board, said CARB was withdrawing the waiver request that it made in late 2023.
Ms Nishida, in a response, said it was withdrawing the waiver request and that the EPA 'considers this matter closed.'
It is a stunning turnaround for CARB, which when it first adopted ACF told industry representatives that it did not believe it needed a waiver to implement the rule.
But with the filing of a lawsuit by the California Trucking Association arguing that CARB did need a waiver, the agency backed down and made its waiver request in November 2023.
California has a long history of being granted waivers when requested from the EPA as it sought to create its own air quality regime over the years, not just from vehicles but from other sources.
Conventional wisdom at the time of the request was that the ACF waiver would be granted, as its counterpart waiver for the Advanced Clean Trucks rule had been earlier in 2023.
An article published late Tuesday by The New York Times quoted Liane Randolph, the CARB chairwoman, as saying the process ran out of time with the Trump administration set to take office next week.
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'Given that the Trump administration has not been supportive of some of the strategies that we have deployed in regulations, we thought it would be prudent to pull back and consider our options,' said carb chairwoman Liane Randolph.
In a brief letter to Jane Nishida, acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Steven Cliff, executive officer of the California Air Resources Board, said CARB was withdrawing the waiver request that it made in late 2023.
Ms Nishida, in a response, said it was withdrawing the waiver request and that the EPA 'considers this matter closed.'
It is a stunning turnaround for CARB, which when it first adopted ACF told industry representatives that it did not believe it needed a waiver to implement the rule.
But with the filing of a lawsuit by the California Trucking Association arguing that CARB did need a waiver, the agency backed down and made its waiver request in November 2023.
California has a long history of being granted waivers when requested from the EPA as it sought to create its own air quality regime over the years, not just from vehicles but from other sources.
Conventional wisdom at the time of the request was that the ACF waiver would be granted, as its counterpart waiver for the Advanced Clean Trucks rule had been earlier in 2023.
An article published late Tuesday by The New York Times quoted Liane Randolph, the CARB chairwoman, as saying the process ran out of time with the Trump administration set to take office next week.
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