California single-handedly making supply-chain crisis even worse

California issued sweeping environmental regulations to reduce fossil fuel emissions throughout the state that will worsen the national supply chain crisis and cripple the trucking industry, industry leaders told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued a set of revised regulations called the Air Resources Board Truck and Bus Regulation, which required trucking companies in the state to upgrade their trucks with 2010 or newer engines by Jan. 1, 2023. The provision will add additional pressure to the supply chain crisis and cause many small trucking businesses to close or significantly reduce their workforce, industry leaders told the DCNF.

“We in the industry know that if you think there was a supply chain problem over the last year, wait until you take this many trucks out of the marketplace that are not replaceable,” Joe Rajkovacz, director of governmental affairs and communications at the Western States Trucking Association, told the DCNF. “You can be talking about something we as a country have never seen before.”

The rule will take roughly 80,000 commercial trucks, or roughly 17% of the trucking fleet, off the road, adding significant pressure to the supply chain crisis, Rajkovacz said.

The provision would hit smaller trucking operations the hardest, Rajkovacz added. Like the auto industry, the trucking industry has experienced extensive supply shortages, making it expensive and difficult to buy used trucks and find additional parts.- READ MORE