The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has delayed two compliance deadlines for the Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) Airborne Toxic Control Measure (ATCM):
•The TRU registration and operator report requirements deadline for California based TRUs has been extended until July 31, 2009 (previously delayed from January 31, 2009, until March 16, 2009). Enforcement of the registration requirements will begin in August 2009.
•The deadline for meeting the Low-Emission TRU (LETRU) In-Use Performance Standards for 2001 and older TRU engines has been delayed until December 31, 2009, (previously delayed from Dec 31, 2008, until July 16, 2009). Enforcement of the in-use performance standards will begin in January 2010, for all model year 2002 and older engines.
ARB is extending these deadlines because as the close of the grace period approached, it became clear that several thousand TRUs were not in position to comply by mid-July. Reasons for this include: lack of timely action by TRU owners, higher costs for compliance than originally anticipated, some retrofit systems not becoming available until May 2009, tightening of credit, and longer lead times for delivery of systems. Given these factors, ARB has determined that a two-phase enforcement schedule would allow for more complete registration and provide some additional time for pre-2002 TRUs to come into compliance in an orderly manner.
Lead times are typically three to four months for most compliance technologies, so orders should be placed by September 1, 2009, in order to ensure compliance by Dec 31, 2009.
Additional information is available in TRU Advisory 08-15-R4 at www.arb.ca.gov/diesel/tru.htm.
