OTTAWA, Ont. — The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is eyeing California’s stringent emissions rules for heavy-duty trucks and suggesting Canada follow suit or risk having its trucks banned from the Golden State.

The Alliance has told the feds that Canada’s weights and dimensions laws should be revisited to allow for greenhouse gas-reducing technologies. Referring to California’s greenhouse gas reduction regulations as “revolutionary,” the CTA said Canada should react by working towards embracing the CTA’s enviroTruck concept.

“If they don’t,” warns CTA CEO, David Bradley, “at the very least Canadian trucks could be barred from operating into and out of California which accounts for $37 billion in two-way trade with Canada, and further delaying significant GHG improvement in Canada.”

Specifically, California’s regulation comes into effect in 2010 and will phase in requirements for existing tractors and trailers with model years up to 2010. Afterwards, there will be further requirements for tractors built after 2011.

Tractors and trailers of model year 2010 and before will require retrofits with SmartWay-approved technologies such as low rolling resistance tires and aerodynamic components. New tractors and trailers, model year 2011 and newer, will have to be SmartWay-certified to operate in California.

The CTA says it has been stymied by government in its pursuit of environmentally-friendly technologies, due to existing weights and dimensions restrictions that were developed before the environment became a priority for the transportation industry. Making amendments to the rules is not easy, since all provinces act independently, the CTA says.

The lobby group is now calling upon the Canadian Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety as well as the Council of Ministers of the Environment to immediately review all provincial weights and dimensions standards and remove barriers to the adoption of green technologies.

Bradley says government should also work with industry to offer incentives to accelerate the penetration of green technologies into the marketplace.

“Cash, credit and capital are all extremely tight,” he says. “California, the US EPA and a number of states offer various incentive programs that US carriers can take advantage of. Some Canadian provinces and Transport Canada also have modest and limited programs, but are pale in comparison to what is needed to make the transition.”