Performance Measures

Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy Equivalency Determination

The Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, finalized in December 2007, was developed to reduce maritime and port-related diesel and greenhouse gas emissions in the Pacific Northwest that affect air quality and climate change.   One of the sectors targeted by the Clean Air Strategy is the drayage trucking sector (trucks that haul shipping containers to and from the ports).  The Strategy partners, including the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, adopted the following performance measures for drayage trucks:

• By 2010:  Reach the equivalent particulate matter emissions level of 1994 or newer heavy-duty truck engine model year through vehicle purchase or by using approved retrofit packages.
• By 2015:  Eighty percent of heavy-duty drayage trucks will reach the equivalent particulate matter emissions level of 2007 or newer engine model year through vehicle purchase or by using approved retrofit packages. 
• By 2017:  One hundred percent of heavy-duty drayage trucks will reach the equivalent particulate matter emissions level of a 2007 or newer engine model.

As part of the Agency’s Seaport Truck Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound (ScRAPS) Program, truck owners have the option to scrap trucks with pre-1994 engines and replace them with newer trucks. Replacement trucks purchased through the program will have a pollution-control muffler (a California Air Resources Board-verified Level 2 retrofit device) installed at no-cost to the truck buyer to further reduce the vehicle’s emissions.  The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency staff has evaluated average emissions from two truck replacement scenarios:

Scenario 1:  Truck owner replaces his or her pre-1994-engined truck with one that has a 1995 engine (not purchased through the Agency’s ScRAPS Program and without a retrofit device) and drives it from 2011 through 2017, then scraps it and drives a truck with a 2007 compliant engine from 2018 through 2030.

Scenario 2:  Truck owner replaces his or her pre-1994-engined truck with one that has a 1994 or newer engine and that has been retrofitted with a Level 2 device through the ScRAPS Program and drives it from 2011 through 2030.

Based on this analysis, the Agency determined that average annual emissions of both of these scenarios are equivalent and that is it appropriate to accept trucks with 1994 or newer engines that have been retrofitted with Level 2 devices prior to 2011 as meeting the 2017 performance measures.  Therefore, the Agency will issue Certificates of Equivalency with the 2017 performance measure to all truck owners that participate in the ScRAPS Program administered by the Agency and choose to purchase 1994 or newer trucks retrofitted with CARB Level 2 devices, prior to 2011.  The Certificate may then be used by the ports to issue an appropriate terminal access sticker to the truck owner.