Legislative Bulletin - January 12, 2010

TRALA SUPPORTING WASHINGTON STATE EFFORT AGAINST FLEET OWNER EMISSIONS REPORTING

TRALA is supporting new legislation in the State of Washington that would reverse earlier efforts to require fleet owners to report on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Instead, House Bill 2545 would adopt similar standards to those promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that require mobile source reporting requirements by medium-duty and heavy-duty motor vehicle and engine manufacturers, as well as fuel suppliers and importers. This would take away an unnecessary and burdensome requirement that would have been put on truck fleet owners under a 2009 proposal by the Washington Department of Ecology. Passage of this legislation would mean that the state’s GHG reporting requirements would fall more in line with those required in the EPA’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, signed by Administrator Lisa Jackson on September 22, 2009. The final rule signed by Administrator Jackson did not include reporting requirements for truck fleet owners.

In September 2009, Washington State’s Department of Ecology issued a proposed rule to establish GHG emission reporting requirements for mobile sources. The mobile source provision in the proposed rule would have applied to owners of fleets of on-road motor vehicles that as a fleet emit at least 2,500 metric tons of greenhouse gases annually in the state. Fleets were defined in the proposed rule as “a collection of all on-road motor vehicles operating in Washington State with a common owner or operator.” The Department of Ecology’s proposed rule never became final, and TRALA is supportive of the legislation to have the engine manufacturers and fuel suppliers and importers submit GHG emissions reports, as is currently required in EPA’s rule.

Passage of HB 2545, which is expected to be introduced this week in the Washington legislature, would mean that GHG emission reporting would begin in 2010, when reports would have to be submitted for 2009 data. Under the legislation, beginning in 2011 those who are required to submit GHG reports under the EPA’s rule must submit the report to the Washington State Department of Ecology in concurrence with the report that is submitted to the EPA. Fleet owners in Washington State would not be subject to GHG reporting requirements, just as the EPA’s final rule does not subject fleet owners to GHG reporting.

Although the EPA’s mandatory GHG reporting rule does not preempt state GHG reporting requirements, TRALA supports states’ adoption of the EPA’s reporting standards for mobile sources in order to move towards GHG mobile source reporting uniformity. TRALA appreciates the work of the Washington Trucking Association executive vice president Larry Pursley in advocating this stance on behalf of the trucking industry with the Washington legislature.

To see a copy of Washington State HB 2545, please click here. Please contact TRALA’s Tom James at tjames@trala.org or Joe Sculley at jsculley@trala.org or by calling (703) 299-9120 for questions on GHG mobile source reporting requirements.