Court denies further review of Cali TRU rule

WASHINGTON — California will continue to enforce its Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) regulation after the U.S. District Court denied a trucking group’s petition to get the rule reconsidered.

The rule, adopted in February 2004, requires that TRUs operating in California and equipped with diesel engines seven years or older be replaced or retrofit with new engines.

While the rules were scheduled to take effect in December 2004, the California Air Resources Board had to get a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce them. The rules were effective Dec. 31, 2009.

In the most recent litigation, the American Trucking Associations argued that the rule was a de facto national standard because many trucks pass through California and will be subject to the rule.

The recent decision ends the litigation, however, unless it gets U.S. Supreme Court review, ATA says.