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July 27, 2005
Following a federal court ruling in May, the Southland’s clean air agency
will resume enforcement of its clean fleet rules for privately owned fleets
under contract to or operated under an exclusive license with public
agencies.
The affected fleets include school bus, transit bus, street sweeping,
airport ground-access and refuse collection fleets owned and operated by
private entities under contract or license to public agencies.
“Privately owned fleets under contract or license to public agencies now
have the same obligation to help clean the air as publicly owned fleets,”
said William A. Burke, Governing Board Chairman of the South Coast Air
Quality Management District. “This is a major step toward our goal of
reducing smog-forming and toxic air pollution in Southland communities.”
Starting Aug. 1, school bus, transit bus, refuse collection, airport
ground-access, and street sweeper rules will apply not only to public
fleets, but also to private fleets under contract to or operating under an
exclusive license with state or local public agencies, including the State
of California, counties, cities and special districts. AQMD will not
enforce its fleet rules as they apply to federal agencies or for private
fleets that are not operating under any contracts or licenses with state or
local public agencies.
AQMD in May 2004 had suspended enforcement of its fleet rules as they
applied to all privately owned fleets following the United States Supreme
Court’s ruling on the fleet rules. Consequently, private fleet operators
will not be subject to enforcement action for any non-compliant vehicles
purchased between May 2004 and Aug. 1, 2005.
AQMD has issued an
advisory on its website detailing the reinstatement of portions of its fleet
rules. The advisory is the result of a May 6 order by federal District
Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, denying a motion by the Engine
Manufacturers Association and Western States Petroleum Association that
sought to invalidate all applications of AQMD’s fleet rules.
In her 24-page opinion, Judge Cooper ruled that the fleet rules, as
applied to state and local governments, fall within the market participant
doctrine and therefore are not pre-empted by the federal Clean Air Act.
Cooper’s order was the latest legal development in a nearly five-year
battle over the fleet rules.
In August 2000, following the AQMD’s adoption of the first five fleet
rules, the Engine Manufacturers Association sued AQMD in federal District
Court. The Natural Resources Defense Council intervened in the action as
AQMD’s co-defendant.
The lawsuit claimed that the rules were pre-empted because they violated
Section 209 of the Clean Air Act. That section states that, “No state or
any political subdivision thereof shall adopt or attempt to adopt any
standard relating to control of emissions from new motor vehicles or new
motor vehicle engines subject to this part.”
AQMD argued that its fleet rules did not set emissions standards for new
vehicles or engines, but rather placed purchase requirements on fleet
operators requiring them to buy the cleanest vehicles commercially
available.
Judge Cooper agreed and ruled against the Engine Manufacturers
Association in 2001. The Engine Manufacturers Association appealed to the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Judge Cooper’s decision. The
Supreme Court of the United States then agreed to hear the case. In April
2004, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision and ruled that
purchase requirements do not escape preemption under Section 209 of the
Clean Air Act. The Court went on to note, however, that its ruling did not
resolve the validity of the fleet rules, and it remanded the case to Judge
Cooper’s court to resolve several issues, including “whether some of the
fleet rules can be characterized as internal state decisions (and, if so,
whether a different standard for pre-emption applies).”
Attorneys for AQMD, supported by a friend-of-the-court brief from the
State of California, argued that most applications of the fleet rules fall
under the market participant doctrine and therefore are not preempted by the
federal Clean Air Act.
Judge Cooper agreed and held that the fleet rules, as applied to state
and local governments, are valid procurement requirements, not within the
scope of preemption under Section 209.
AQMD’s fleet rules, adopted in 2000 and 2001, target primarily
diesel-powered vehicles, including transit buses, school buses, trash
trucks, airport shuttles and taxis, street sweepers and heavy-duty utility
trucks. The rules generally require fleet operators to buy clean-fueled
models when they replace vehicles or add to their fleets of 15 or more
vehicles.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
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