Fearing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may stall or weaken federal regulation on diesel emissions, 11 states and the District of Columbia announced on Sept. 29 plans to implement California's standards for diesel fuel emissions as a backup to the federal regulation promulgated by EPA. EPA promulgated regulations in January 2001 to mandate dramatic decreases in harmful emissions, most notably particulate matter and nitrogen oxide. These standards, known as the "Federal 2007 Rule," are scheduled to take effect in 2007. However, according to state and local pollution control officials, EPA has received pressure from the trucking industry to weaken the rule. In order to ensure truck drivers in California will be forced to comply with the original federal standard, California passed its own diesel fuel standards in October 2001 that are identical to the federal standard and scheduled to take effect at the same time. Unwilling to rely on EPA to fully implement the rule, other state and local leaders worked with the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators (STAPPA) and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (ALAPCO) to create a Model Rule, based on the California standard, that states could adopt to ensure diesel emissions would still be regulated in the event that the federal standard is not implemented or is weakened. STAPPA and ALAPCO are comprised of air pollution control officials from the states, territories, and major metropolitan areas. Though industry representatives deny any attempts to delay or weaken the rule, EPA officials have met repeatedly with industry representatives to discuss the rule, according to the BNA Daily Report for Executives. Charles Drevna, spokesman for the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association told BNA that meetings were only to "outline where we see potential problems in implementation and then work out the kinks that will minimize or avoid the potential problems such as cross-contamination in storage tanks and pipelines." According to the Executive Summary, "The Model Rule sets out a basic set of provisions for the purpose of adopting the California 2007 Rule by establishing a requirement that heavy-duty diesel trucks sold, leased, or registered for use in the adopting state must have a Certificate of Conformity issued by the California Air Resources Board (‘CARB')." The Model Rule also includes optional provisions for enforcement and record keeping as well as additional regulatory documents to help guide state lawmakers in adopting the rules. Like the federal regulation, the model rule, if implemented, will reduce emission levels by 90 percent for particulate matter and 95 percent for nitrogen oxide. According to a STAPPA/ALAPCO press release, the adoption of these regulations by these 12 jurisdictions will affect about one-third of truck sales. To date, the states that have implemented or plan to implement the California standard are Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.