A modest proposal

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Updated Dec 14, 2009

The state of California’s Air Resources Board made headlines recently when proposals for new truck, bus and greenhouse-gas-emissions regulations were announced, posted to CARB’s website and opened up for comment. “California has posted proposals online that, if passed, will impact more than 400,000 state-licensed trucks, 500,000 out-of-state trucks operating in California and more than a half-million trailers,” Jill Dunn reported at eTrucker.com.

Prospective commenters (the comment period ends Dec. 10) can visit the equipment reg proposals here and the emissions reg proposals here, but you might also want to consider some of the comments already submitted, many of which offer novel solutions to and dire predictions for California’s air pollution problems, many from truckers. While not identifying himself as a trucker, Charles Keppel recommends solving the heavy-duty emissions problem by all long-haulers avoiding California altogether. “>I say let the people in California figure out how to get all their goods delivered,” Keppel writes. Seemingly realizing the impracticability of the solution, however, he would offer a concession to native Californians in permitting drayage haulers at the Mexican border to continue operation. The stream of food and goods coming north from Mexico, he says, might be back-packed in by arriving immigrants. As Keppel puts it, “Truckers can meet them at the border and transfer their loads to mules.”