Colorado adopts pair of rules to zero-out truck emission
Colorado is the eighth state to have adopted Advanced Clean Trucks rules to push the trucking industry to embrace zero-emission trucks.
It is one of two rules adopted in April by the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission and developed by the Colorado Health Department Air Pollution Control Division.
The Advanced Clean Trucks rule sets a sales standard for manufacturers to make more zero-emission trucks available in Colorado. The rule takes effect starting with model year 2027. The sales standard percentage grows incrementally through model year 2035. This rule only applies to manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks. It does not affect farming equipment or off-road construction equipment. No one is required to purchase a zero-emission truck.
The Low NOx Truck rule sets more stringent air pollution emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, improves testing requirements for engines, and extends warranties.
It also takes effect for trucks starting with model year 2027. NOx refers to nitrogen oxide, which forms ground-level ozone pollution when they react with other pollutants in heat and sunlight. Diesel engines emit more nitrogen oxide than vehicles that run on gas. The rule lowers the nitrogen oxide emission standard for new vehicles by 90% of the current standard.
The commission also altered its large entity reporting rule, which applies only to operators with 20 or more trucks. It now is expected to collect data twice. The first deadline is Nov. 30, 2024. The second deadline is Dec. 31, 2027. The data is expected to be made available to the public.
The zero-emission truck rules are intended to help meet the goals of the Colorado Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap announced in January 2021. The state legislature in 2019 set goals to reduce 2025 greenhouse gas emission by at least 26%, 2030 emission by at least 50%, and 2050 emission by at least 90% of the levels of statewide greenhouse gas emission that existed in 2005. LL