NJDEP Proposed Regulations on Drayage Trucks

Comments Due Thursday, Oct. 8th

 The Bi-State has many serious concerns about these proposed changes, and we urge our Members to submit Comments on how they would affect your business

 The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is proposing several new regulations and policies that are cause for concern for the drayage industry in New Jersey. For example, they are proposing that the fleet of Port Drayage trucks in New Jersey be converted to 100% Electric Vehicles by 2035, despite numerous concerns on the potentially negative impacts that would result from such an aggressive timeline.

The Bi-State has submitted commentary detailing our concerns. A brief overview:

  • Drayage trucks comprise a small share of NJ’s trucking fleet, and most drayage trucks at the Port of NY & NJ are already lower-emission vehicles.
  • New Jersey wants to mirror regulations being put forth in California, without considering the many ways the states differ, including the level of competition, climate, and funding resources.
  • These expensive proposals for implementing aggressive new emissions policies come at the worst possible time for the intermodal trucking industry, during a global pandemic and economic recession, coupled with a statewide fuel tax increase and significant toll hikes.
  • NJ does not have sufficient electrical grid capacity to meet the aggressive conversion deadlines proposed, nor the funding to implement the necessary upgrades
  • The proposals do not address the most dangerous source of harmful pollutants, Non-Exhaust Emissions (NEEs), which will increase with Electric Vehicles

Click here to read our full comments.

Feedback on the DEP proposals must be emailed to NJAirRulesMobile@dep.nj.gov by October 8th in order to be considered. Please put “DRAYAGE TRUCKS” in the Subject line to make it clear which presentation you are providing feedback on.

If you would like to read the NJDEP proposals in depth, click the following link to view the materials presented at the meeting on September 10th regarding Drayage Trucks. https://www.nj.gov/dep/workgroups/docs/njpact-air-co2-20200910-medium-drayage-pm.pdf

You can view a video of the September 10th meeting in its entirety on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX9pu4CYDoA&feature=youtu.be