Oregon air regulators announced Wednesday that they plan to pause a clean-truck rule modeled after California because there aren’t enough cleaner heavy-duty engines available.
What happened: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said it would delay the start of its Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus rule from 2025 to 2026. The agency cited a shortage of new engines that meet the lower standards as driving their decision.
“The agency understands there is a continued shortage of new engines that qualify under the stricter oxides of nitrogen emissions standard due to product availability and manufacturer decisions to limit supply of diesel trucks,” read an agency email.
Context: Oregon adopted the Low NOx Omnibus rule in 2021 as one of the states that opts to follow California’s vehicle and truck emission standards under the Clean Air Act, which allows California to set stricter-than-federal air rules. At the same time, it adopted the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule, another California rule that requires manufacturers to sell zero-emission vehicles in increasing percentages.
