Shawn Yadon: Senate Bill 350 sets unclear pathway for moving goods

We’re nearing the end of the legislative session in Sacramento and one of the major issues still left to be decided is Senate Bill 350 and its call for a 50 percent reduction in petroleum use by 2030.

Oil companies and environmental groups are getting all of the attention on opposing sides of this discussion, but there’s a third group that needs to have a larger say: actual fuel users.

Today, nearly 80 percent of California’s communities depend exclusively on the 33,000 companies and the 622,000 Californians employed by the trucking industry to move the goods that are required for our society to function. We rely on diesel to provide over 95 percent of the fuel necessary to bring the goods you depend on every day. With the state’s population and freight activity levels expected to increase in coming years, this reality isn’t likely to change.

Nevertheless, because California has the nation’s strictest air-quality laws, we’re already moving these goods using the cleanest trucks available. Since 2008, our companies have invested over $7 billion in new trucks, and will continue to invest over $1 billion annually until 2023 just to comply with the existing rules. These investments will achieve carbon reductions equivalent to taking 1.4 million cars off of our roads and reduce diesel soot from California trucks by over 99 percent. However, with the average cost of a new truck upward of $150,000, these environmental gains have not come cheap – and truckers have struggled immensely to make it work.

One such trucker is Doug Britton, owner and operator of Britton Trucking of Firebaugh. Operating a small, family-owned business south of Merced, Doug hauls and supports the growers of California’s world-famous fruits, nuts and vegetables.

Since the implementation of the state’s strict air-quality rules, Doug has been forced to prematurely sell usable equipment while spending nearly $1.2 million on new trucks. For his business to make this work, Doug had to enter long-term financing agreements or go out of business. Today, he continues to pay creditors to help cover his out-of-pocket costs.

Doug is not alone.

Thousands of other California companies are working with the understanding that if they buy a new truck certified by the Environmental Protection Agency, even in 2015, they’ll have a certain number of years to recoup their investment costs because the technology was deemed compliant for sale by both state and federal governments.

Doug’s example is precisely why it’s important that as the Legislature debates the merits of SB 350, they take a moment to consider the ongoing sacrifices California truckers have already made and will continue to make in the coming years just to comply with existing emission rules. Our industry needs absolute assurance that the investments we’re making to support our families while serving our communities will not be wiped out by unelected regulatory bodies authorized to change the rules.

As currently written, SB 350 will pull the rug out from under truckers and allow the state’s unelected regulators to alter the path we’ve already been required to follow at great cost. This bill could unfairly move the goal posts in the middle of the game.

California’s trucking industry wants our state to have sound environmental goals that are economically feasible. However, it’s our hope that legislative leaders work hand-in-hand with us to make these goals a reality by setting achievable targets in a manner that won’t jeopardize the sacrifices we’ve made to get into cleaner trucks.

If the state government doesn’t take a moment to plan with our industry, we’ll have to ask ourselves if the price paid by companies like Doug Britton’s was all in vain.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Shawn Yadon: Senate Bill 350 sets unclear pathway for moving goods."