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On October 1, 2015, the Air Resources Board (ARB) submitted its
formal comments to the public dockets of both the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on their joint
proposal for Phase 2 of the federal greenhouse gas (GHG) and fuel
efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty engines,
vehicles, and trailers.   The comments, along with a letter
signed by ARB’s Chair Mary D. Nichols summarizing ARB’s most
significant concerns and recommendations for accelerating and
strengthening the federal Phase 2 program, are now available at:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onroad/caphase2ghg/caphase2ghg.htm

Overall, ARB believes the proposed federal Phase 2 program is a
good next step in supporting California’s actions to achieve
unique climate and petroleum reduction goals. However, ARB also
believes the proposal misses opportunities to maximize GHG
emission reductions and spur development of critical advanced
technologies that can provide early climate benefits; these
advanced technologies are especially important to California in
meeting our 2030 GHG and petroleum use reduction goals.

Additionally, the proposal did not include a commitment from U.S.
EPA to begin development on lower, mandatory oxides of
nitrogen(NOx)emission standards for heavy-duty engines and
vehicles, as was expected by ARB.  California needs dramatic
further reductions in NOx emissions beyond what ARB’s current
programs will achieve by 2031 to attain health-based standards
for ozone and fine particulate matter. ARB will move forward with
its efforts to establish a California-only lower NOx standard if
U.S. EPA does not take timely federal action.  

ARB has also submitted separate comments in response to NHTSA’s
Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which analyzes potential
environmental impacts of the proposed fuel efficiency standards
in the Phase 2 rulemaking and is prepared pursuant to National
Environmental Policy Act requirements.  This comment letter is
also available from the website shown above.

For more information on Phase 2 GHG emission standards for
on-road heavy-duty vehicles, please go to: 
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onroad/caphase2ghg/caphase2ghg.htm. 

If you have questions regarding this notification, please contact
Krista Fregoso at 
(916) 445-5035 or krista.fregoso@arb.ca.gov.

Background:  ARB staff has worked jointly with the staff of U.S.
EPA and NHTSA on the next phase of GHG emission standards,
referred to as Phase 2, for medium- and heavy-duty engines and
vehicles.  The proposed standards build on the improvements in
engine and vehicle efficiency required by the Phase 1 GHG
standards, and provide a significant opportunity to achieve
further GHG emission reductions from a wide range of on-road
vehicles---from semi-trucks and their trailers, large pick-ups
and vans, vocational work trucks, and buses.

U.S. EPA and NHTSA issued their final joint Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking for the Phase 2 GHG and fuel efficiency standards on
July 13, 2015.  The joint federal proposed rules and related
documents are available from both agencies’ websites shown below.
 
http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regs-heavy-duty.htm
http://www.nhtsa.gov/fuel-economy

Upon federal adoption of the Phase 2 standards, ARB staff plans
to present a proposed California Phase 2 program to the Board
tentatively in 2017.





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