Colorado delays clean-truck policy until 2026

The state of Colorado will delay the implementation of clean-truck policies until the year 2026 in order to focus on better implementation and more pressing supply chain issues, the Governor’s office reports. 

The new timeline for clean-trucking rules was announced during an online meeting on Tuesday, February 15th. 

CPR News reports that Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission was scheduled to consider a couple of clean-trucking rules over the next few months. These new rules would force manufactures to increase the sale of zero-emission electric trucks and buses, as well as require diesel trucks to produce less nitrous oxide and were expected to be put into effect in August of 2022. 

During Tuesday’s online meeting, Governor Polis and his administration stated that they will delay the policymaking process until 2023 and implementation until 2026, which will allow the state of Colorado to reach out to “disproportionately impacted communities” in order to create a more “defensible policy.” 

Will Toor, the director of the Colorado Energy Office also stated that this delay will help to sync up any new clean-trucking policies with efforts to promote electric vehicles such as state programs, as well as better infrastructure for vehicle chargers. A representative of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment also pointed out that this delay could help bring the trucking industry on board with the change rather than being forced into it, pointing out that the industry will likely be more receptive to these changes after the global supply chain has stabilized. 

“The months ahead are an important time for stabilizing global supply chain issues — with major national efforts underway in areas like producing enough microchips to build the clean vehicles that our country needs,” Toor said. 

“]This timeline] is as aggressive as possible to get it [clean truck rules] right,” said Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for the Governor’s office. 

“What’s come into focus is that we need to get the investment plans for the transportation electrification enterprises in place and to quickly pass the Governor’s clean air package which includes a clean-trucking component in order to set up the most robust rulemaking possible,” Cahill said.