Don't show up for the California Air Resources Board workshop in Redding expecting to hear new state diesel emission standards will be rescinded.
But do expect to be given plenty of opportunity to weigh in with ideas about what could be done to help small businesses comply with the new regulations, CARB spokeswoman Karen Caesar said.
This Thursday's workshop in the Redding City Council Chambers is one of five being held across the state this month as CARB officials answer questions and address concerns.
The workshops are being held nearly a month after CARB issued a regulatory advisory that gives truckers struggling to make the deadline to meet the new standards a reprieve. State air officials have extended the Jan. 1 deadline to July 1.
Truck owners who show the state they are making a good-faith effort to comply will get an extension. That means they either have to enter into an agreement to buy and install a diesel particulate filter; sign a purchase contract and order a compliant truck; or show officials they were approved or denied a loan or other financing for a filter or truck purchase.
At a Oct. 24 public meeting in Sacramento, the California Air Resources Board asked its staff to come up with proposed changes to the new rules that could provide trucking fleets greater flexibility in complying.
CARB officials are using the workshops to get input on the proposed amendments. The final amendments are scheduled to be revealed at CARB's April meeting.
"The vast majority of today's workshop has been Q and A," Caesar said of the CARB event in Diamond Bar today, the first of five in the state this month, "There has been plenty of time for people to voice their opinion and address staff with their concerns."
If you are unable to attend Thursday's workshop in Redding, a live webcast of Wednesday's presentation in Sacramento will be available at www.calepa.ca.gov/broadcast/?BDO=1.
Other workshops will be held in San Diego (Dec. 10) and Fresno (Dec. 12).
The truck and bus diesel standards were adopted in 2008 and first amended in 2010. To date, more than half of the registered trucks, or 140,000, in California are in compliance, according to CARB officials.
If you go:
What: California Air Resources Board meeting
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m, Thursday
Where: Redding City Council Chambers, 777 Cypress Ave.
