Clare Ellis Counsel with Hunton Andrews Kurth. Courtesy photo.
Now more than ever, heavy-duty truck and other freight emissions are in the crosshairs of federal, state, and local air quality regulators. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD)—the primary air quality regulator in a four-county area of the Los Angeles basin—recently finalized a rule that takes a creative approach, reflecting a tendency of federal, state, and local regulatory bodies to push the limits of their jurisdiction to control such emissions. Under State law, AQMD is vested with the authority to regulate air emissions from stationary sources located in the South Coast Air Basin.
Air districts in California, such as AQMD, lack authority over emissions from mobile sources, such as trucks, automobiles, tractors, and a myriad of other on-road vehicles and off-road equipment—as such emissions are within the purview of the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
