On Wednesday, April 14th, The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued a notice of rule proposal announcing their intention to adopt regulations modeled after California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Rule (ACT). The proposed rulemaking is part of New Jersey’s comprehensive strategy to meet the state’s statutory requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent less than the 2006 levels by 2050. New Jersey was one of 15 states to sign on to NESCAUM’s Zero-Emission Truck and Bus MOU in July 2020 and will become the second state to formalize their commitment to zero-emission trucks and buses through an official rule.
California’s ACT requires manufacturers to make available for sale an increasing number of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles beginning in model year 2024 and escalating annually until model year 2035. New Jersey intends to incorporate the ACT by reference, copying the language from California’s rulemaking once it is approved by the EPA. New Jersey’s ACT will differ only in that the implementation will begin with model year 2025, one year after California’s.
A public hearing concerning the proposal will be held virtually on Thursday, May 20, 2021, at 9:00 AM EST and New Jersey will accept written comments until June 18, 2021.
