The Peoples Journal

On Wednesday, December 14, 2011, the Office of Administrative Law
approved amendments to the Truck and Bus Regulation. The
amendments are effective immediately, with the first compliance
date being January 1, 2012. By that date, fleets with vehicles
having a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 26,000
pounds must do either of the following:
- Retrofit 1996-1999 model year engines with Air Resources Board
(ARB) verified particulate matter (PM) filters, OR
- Have 30 percent of the heavier vehicles in the fleet equipped
with a PM filter (either a retrofitted verified PM filter or an
original equipment PM filter installed on a 2007 or later
model-year vehicle).
There are no PM filter requirements for trucks with a GVWR of
between 14,000 and 26,001 pounds, or for small fleets (1 to 3
trucks).
Be advised that truck owners must report to ARB by January 31,
2012 to take advantage of the PM filter phase-in option or other
flexibility provisions in the regulation. Small fleets (1 to 3
trucks) with a GVWR greater than 14,000 pounds must also report
to delay compliance for their heavier trucks until January 1,
2014. The online reporting system and user guide are available
at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onrdiesel/reportinginfo.htm.
In order to avoid potential enforcement action by ARB, fleets
that have not met the PM filter requirements by January 1, 2012
are strongly advised to make every effort to bring the fleet into
compliance as soon as possible.
Background
On December 11, 2008, the Board approved for adoption the Truck
and Bus regulation to control emissions from nearly all existing
diesel powered heavy-duty trucks and buses operating in
California. The regulation became effective under California law
on January 8, 2010. The regulation applies to diesel fueled
trucks and buses with a GVWR greater than 14,000 pounds that are
owned by private persons, including businesses, and by the
federal government. The regulation also applies to publicly and
privately owned school buses. Local and state government owned
diesel fueled trucks and non-school buses are already subject to
other ARB regulations. Reducing emissions from in-use trucks and
buses is necessary to meet federally imposed clean air standards
and to reduce the adverse health effects from truck and bus
pollution.
On December 17, 2010, the staff recommended amendments to the
regulation that were subsequently adopted by the Board on
September 19, 2011 and approved by the Office of Administrative
Law on December 14, 2011. The amended Truck and Bus Regulation
delays the initial requirement to phase-in installation of PM
filters by one year to January 1, 2012 and extends the time
before a vehicle equipped with a PM filter would have to have an
engine that meets 2010 model year emission standards. The
amendments also defer initial engine replacements for older
vehicles without PM filters for two years until January 1, 2015
at the earliest. Prior to 2020, replacements are limited only to
20 year old or older trucks that are not equipped with PM
filters. By January 1, 2023, most vehicles will need to be
equipped with an engine meeting 2010 model year emission
standards.

The Trucker Charity Christmas Group has been successful in its effort by providing 49 families over $30,000 in their 3 year run. They have spawned a full-time organization dedicated to helping truckers in need. OOIDA Life Member Lance Wood of Summerfield, IL, is a member of the Christmas group. He now heads Trucker Charity, Inc., a 501(c)(3) that helps truckers in need year round by; "Getting them fed, getting them safe and getting them home". Just last month they were able to get 5 drivers home from being stranded on the road under various circumstances, some referred to them by OOIDA.
They raise funds by selling items on the Trucker Charity Christmas Group Fundraising website and via donations. Nominations for needy trucking families will be accepted through Saturday, Dec. 19th.
On Dec 19th, a panel of volunteers, including OOIDA Member Kerry Mullins of West Lafayette In, and OOIDA Life Member Ralph Acocella of Hickory, NC, will review applications start the selection process which is done by a secret vote and based on a point system for an unbiased treatment of the families.
Mullins is the secretary of Trucker Charity and has been involved in the last 2 fund drives. He is hopeful this will be the best year yet but they need the help from fellow trucker’s to make it happen. This is Acocella’s 2nd on the panel, and he is looking forward to helping his fellow drivers with some Christmas joy. Trucker’s helping Trucker’s, that’s what it’s all about with these professionals.

http://www.truckercharity.org/christmas-group.php

Trucker Charity Inc is a 501(c)(3) charity with it’s main office located in Summerfield Ill.

I sit sometimes and wonder how America can survive. The Government  seems bent on destroying the country.

The full power of the executive branch is focused on pretending to care for the American worker while behind the scenes those who wield the power in pretense of saving American jobs, make even more jobs vanish in search of cheaper labor or evasion of the very onerous regulations they promote to “save the planet from AGW”.

Then I encounter one of the “little things” that bring hope that some American businesses are beginning to understand that “BUY AMERICAN” is not only possible, but a necessary stance American businesses and consumers have got to put in practice if we want to save our own ability to work and spend money.

Here is a ‘little thing” I noticed this week that actually gave me hope.

I took a shower at the TCA South Jacksonville, Florida. Instead of the usual MADE IN INDIA soap the TCA chain usually offers in their showers, I found this beautiful bar of soap! 

Thank you to whoever decided to buy soap made in America instead, I hope to see these more often until they are everywhere. It is one of the little things that can begin to turn this economy back from the brink of collapse.

How We Began

Our beginnings were as many organizations the actions of individuals. Some driver would become needy, and among the ATN Fans drivers would talk together and pool resources to help that driver.

In small groups we shared concerns, and we shared some efforts. Many of us did what we did quietly through friends in the belief that the recipient should not know where the aid was coming from. “Thank You” was not something most of us wanted to hear. Some of the recipients later became benefactors to others because, among the ATN Fans as among the trucking community in general, the belief in “pay me forward” rather than “pay me back” is strong. Some people did “pay back” when they were helped, those funds always seemed to find a new need to be applied to.

Over time it was only natural that small groups started discussing formalizing an organization to continue this effort. The shock we all experienced when one of the hosts of the radio show our group seemed to revolve around experienced the crushing loss in his personal life that our efforts could not ameliorate, gave some of us the spark that galvanized us into action at last.

Jacob Boulanger and his father Eric ( Bubba Bo) and Steven Sommers and his father Steve are for many of the ATN listeners an extended family. It seemed only fitting that we should guarantee that our trucking community efforts should reflect our acknowledgment of that relationship. Steven we agree to uplift in all his endeavors, and as a group we rejoice in his accomplishments. Jacob however we will with our own efforts try to honor because his life was cut short.

This memorial fund is the continuation of our community building that for most of us began with our participation in, and enjoyment of, the ATN show. Our hope is to also spread the community beyond the ATN audience to the entire trucking community. It is after all the entire trucking community we belong to that shares the beliefs that we put into practice here. Our roots as an organization are after all only the place to gain nourishment for the living plant we are bringing to life here. A fund by truckers for use helping truckers.

Jake Russell Boulanger Memorial Fund

How much BS can they pile up before there is a smell that cannot be denied? There’s something rotten in Washington D. C.

It was clear that the CSA plan was a joke from the beginning.
When the person who designed this sham safety scoring system that allowed major carriers to lose their unsatisfactory safety ratings and claim to be among the safest trucks on the road retired from their Department of Transportation job and was immediately hired as a vice president of a safety consulting firm used by those same carriers to promote their safe image it was clear.
When the state patrols of states that have harassed out of state truckers so much in the past that truckers have resorted to convoys and economic boycott immediately increased their issuance of non refutable "warnings" for imagined offenses it was clear.
When the size divisions that were touted as having companies only judged against their peers was rigged to make smaller trucking companies automatically have higher scores than larger companies, and the separation of offense categories made rectifying this magnified imaginary bad record almost impossible, it was clear.
BUT now we have the forced re-imposition of the banned by congress Mexican cross border "pilot project" to prove that the FMCSA cares nothing about safety or even about common sense. They live to serve the K street lobbyists.
No matter that they pretended to not spend money putting this cross border project together while in fact spending record budgets on it while forcing American taxpayers to supply Mexican trucks with equipment American truckers have to furnish at their own expense.
No matter that the state department, the American military and almost every law enforcement agency in our country knows that the police and government in Mexico is either not in control of governance in some areas, or are but are under the control of the same drug cartels that are killing thousands in Mexico, and seeking desperately to ship contraband and laundered money across that border in both directions.
No matter that congress forbade the FMCSA to spend money setting up a sham cross border pilot project they can simply claim people working under other budgets did all the work right? Isn’t that like claiming to buy food with food stamps while trading them with the local car dealer for a new ride? Did anyone object? They certainly would object to the welfare recipient who is trading food stamps in for car payments.
American truck drivers have a 10 year job history ( with no gaps) and a unified traffic offense record ( your state MVR) and now even a federal record of all interaction with inspectors and certified police even to the local levels ( CSA score).
None of these data bases exist on any level of confidence in MEXICO so the FMCSA is granting WAIVERS. How much sense does this make? The NAFTA Agreement does not demand this.
This entire cross border dog and pony show is a sham from the beginning to it’s predictable end with the opening of our border to Mexican cross border trucking. It is happening to appease the K Street crowd that reacted only to the illegal imposition of an import tax in Mexico on selected American goods. It represents our government kneeling in surrender to the crowds of globalist manufacturers who want cheap Mexican assembly plants at any cost.
Instead of occupying Wall Street, Americans who want honest government should be occupying K street! That is where the real problem comes from.
Yoda

The Truckin Bozo’s Website