LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The California Trucking Association (CTA) has asked a federal judge to stop a state rule that would require truckers to switch to zero-emissions vehicles by 2042, calling it “a vast overreach” that threatens the survival of industry.
The trucking group on Monday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California seeking injunctive relief from the California Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation that goes into effect on Jan. 1.
California’s trucking industry had concerns about the rule in part because it set unrealistic deadlines for a “radical shift in the industry,” CTA Chief Executive Eric Sauer said in a statement.
The California Air Resources Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Its regulation would require fleets with 50 or more trucks, as well drivers servicing ports or rail yards, to switch to zero-emission trucks including electric semis.
Under the rule, trucks operating at California ports and rail yards must be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. All trucks in the state must make the transition by 2042.
The plaintiffs allege that the California Air Resources Board has not been granted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency waiver it needs to enact the rule. They also challenge whether that federal agency can provide the waiver.
The Advanced Clean Fleets rule “cannot be enforced until such waiver is granted,” the plaintiffs said.
The case is California Trucking Association vs. California Air Resources Board et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, No. 23-01044
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Stephen Coates)
