The California Air Resources Board voted April 28, 2023, to ban new diesel trucks beginning in 2036. The Washington Trucking Associations expects Washington to adopt the rule.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The California Air Resources Board on April 28 voted to ban new diesel trucks beginning in 2036, a rule the trucking industry expects to be adopted by Washington.

The Advanced Clean Fleets rule requires companies and local governments to phase out diesel trucks from their fleets. Trucks entering ports for the first time will have to be zero-emission starting Jan. 1, 2024.

Trucking associations, including one whose members serve ports, warn the rule is impractical, including for trucking companies that haul agricultural products long distances from the Central Valley to ports.

The board passed the rule 14-0, setting a deadline for the trucking industry to be carbon-free by 2045. A board press release called the future ban on new diesel trucks a “first-in-the-world requirement.”

“This is an absolutely transformative rule to clean our air and mitigate climate change,” board chairwoman Liane Randolph said.

Washington lawmakers in 2020 committed to adopting California vehicle-emission standards. Gov. Jay Inslee and the Department of Ecology last year praised California’s ban on new gas cars and pickups beginning in 2035.

Ecology enacted the California clean-cars rule before year’s end, saying it had no choice and skipping the customary economic review of a major rule.

The Inslee administration has not given the truck rule the same enthusiastic reception. Ecology spokesman Andrew Wineke deferred to the governor’s office questions on whether the department will adopt California’s truck rule. The governor’s office was working on a response Tuesday afternoon.

Washington Trucking Associations President and CEO Shari Call said Tuesday she anticipates Ecology will do adopt the truck rule and doubted there will be much of an in-state discussion.

“I’m not optimistic listening to the trucking industry is a valued proposition for the Department of Ecology,” she said.

“We’re in a position where the Legislature ceded authority to California,” she said. “We are in an absolutely odd place.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets tailpipe standards. Because of its smog problem, California can set stricter standards with EPA approval. Other states must follow the EPA or California standard.

Many states have indicated they plan to follow California’s car rule. Washington Democrats made it automatic in 2020 by passing a bill stating Ecology will “amend the rules from time to time” to be consistent with California.

California will apply for a waiver from the EPA to implement the Advanced Clean Fleets rule, air resources board spokesman Dave Clegern said in an email.

Once the waiver is approved, other states are free to adopt it, he said.

The rule will apply to all trucks over 8,500 pounds, including tractor-trailers. The rule will require zero-emission trucks to be incorporated into public and private fleets beginning next year.

The Western States Trucking Association accused the air resources board of being blind to environmental and labor issues related to mining for materials to make batteries by an obsession with tailpipe emissions.

Electric trucks are heavier than diesel trucks, meaning they lighter loads to keep under weight limits, leading to more trucks on highways and more accidents, according to the trucking association.

The California Trucking Association said timelines to transition to zero-emission fleets were “simply impossible.”

The Harbor Trucking Association, a trade group representing companies that serve ports, stated in a press release that the charging stations didn’t exist for the rule to work.

“This is a historic measure, but unfortunately the regulation is more aspirational than reality based,” association CEO Matt Shrap said. “No one say with a straight face that we are ready for a mandate that begins in less than eight months.”