State of California AIR RESOURCES BOARD

Notice of Public Availability of Modified Text

PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER REQUIRING CERTAIN CALIFORNIA LIGHT- AND MEDIUM-DUTY VEHICLES TO BE SUBJECT TO FEDERAL TIER 2 EXHAUST STANDARDS, AND ADOPTING ADDITIONAL EXHAUST EMISSION STANDARDS FOR HEAVY-DUTY GASOLINE VEHICLES AND ENGINES

Public Hearing Date: December 7, 2000 Public Availability Date: December 8, 2000 Deadline for Public Comment: December 26, 2000

At a public hearing held December 7, 2000, the Air Resources Board (the Board or ARB) approved amendments to sections 1956.8 and 1961, title 13, California Code of Regulations (CCR), and amendments to or adoption of three ARB documents incorporated by reference in those sections. The amendments will require light- and medium-duty vehicles sold in California to be at least as low-emitting as their federal counterparts, and align California exhaust emission standards for heavy-duty Otto-cycle (gasoline) engines with federal standards.

The Board’s action. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Board adopted Resolution 00-45, in which it approved the originally proposed amendments with several modifications. All of the modifications had been suggested by staff in response to public comments made to staff after issuance of the original proposal. The text of all of the suggested modifications was contained in a 17-page document entitled “Staff’s Suggested Modifications to the Original Proposal,” which was distributed at the hearing and was Attachment E to the Resolution. The Resolution and its Attachment E are attached to this Notice. The Resolution directed the Executive Officer to make the modified text available for a supplemental comment period.

The approved modifications will allow manufacturers to market qualifying federallycertified vehicles prior to the 2004 model year, allow 2004 and earlier model-year federal heavy light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles covered by the program to certify to federal evaporative emissions and on-board diagnostics (OBD) requirements, delete the requirement that a federally-certified vehicle model be marketed in California when the otherwise comparable California model uses a different aspiration method or fuel, provide manufacturers with credit for the additional emission benefits achieved by federally certifying vehicles to optional 150,000 mile emission standards, and make various nonsubstantive corrections.

Modified text being made available. The attached Attachment E to the Resolution contains the text of all of the proposed modifications to sections 1956.8 and 1961, CCR, and the modified portions of the following incorporated documents:“California Exhaust Emission Standards and T est Procedures for 1987 and Subsequent Model Heavy-Duty Otto-Cycle Engines,” incorporated by reference in section 1956.8(d), title 13, CCR;

“California Exhaust Emission Standards and T est Procedures for 2004 and Subsequent Model Heavy-Duty Otto-Cycle Engines,” a proposed new document to be incorporated by reference in section 1956.8(d), title 13, CCR; and

“California Exhaust Emission Standards and T est Procedures for 2001 and Subsequent Model Passenger Cars, Light-Duty Trucks and Medium-Duty Vehicles,” incorporated by reference in section 1961(d), title 13, CCR.

The complete

texts of these incorporated documents, with all of the modifications clearly indicated, are available on the ARB’s Internet site for this rulemaking, www.arb.ca.gov/regact/mdv-hdge/mdv-hdge.htm . Printed copies are available from Ms. Donna Barragan, Mobile Source Control Division, telephone (626) 459-4405 or fax (626) 575-6699.

Comments and subsequent action. In accordance with section 11346.8 of the Government Code, the Board’s Resolution directed the Executive Officer to amend sections 1956.8 and 1961, title 13, CCR, and amend or adopt the incorporated documents, after making the text of the modifications available to the public for comment for a period of at least 15 days. The Board further provided that the Executive Officer shall consider such written comments regarding the modified text that may be submitted during this period, shall make modifications as may be appropriate in light of the comments received, and shall present the regulations to the Board for further consideration if warranted.

Written comments on the modifications approved by the Board must be submitted to the Clerk of the Board, Air Resources Board, P.O. Box 2815, Sacramento, California 95812, no later than December 26, 2000, for consideration by the Executive Officer prior to final action. E-mail submissions must be addressed to mdv-hdge@listserv.arb.ca.gov and received at the ARB no later than 5:00 p.m., December 26, 2000. Only comments relating to the above-described modifications to the regulations shall be considered by the Executive Officer.

Robert H. Cross, Chief Mobile Source Division

Attachments