California Says ‘No More’ To Dirty Diesels, Requires Massive Truck Cleanup
Depending on how you chose to look at it, California's air regulators have struck - or triumphed - again.
We're going with "triumph."
Aerodynamic, fuel-efficient, clean diesel trucks will someday be the norm on California highways.
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Just one day after giving the green light to the nation's toughest greenhouse gas emissions limits, the California Air Resources Board late Friday approved the nation's strictest regulations on emissions from diesel big-rigs.
The short version: Older, dirtier diesel engines will gradually be phased out starting in 2012, so that by 2023 every diesel truck operating in California - whether the 400,000 registered in the state or the estimated 500,000 that traveling in from other states - will have to have engines no older than the 2010 model year.
Starting a year earlier, in 2011, trucks also will have to be fitted with the newest diesel emissions filters to slash emissions of smog-causing and toxic pollutants.
Trucks and trailers also will have to be shod in low-rolling-resistance tires and sport aerodynamic bodywork to help them slip through the air with less resistance, improving their fuel efficiency and cutting down on their greenhouse gas emissions.
