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For some time, two things seemed certain for truckers in California: taxes and stiff environmental requirements. That didn’t change in 2010.

A series of proposed amendments to California’s emissions-reduction regulations for heavy trucks would save the trucking industry more than $3 billion, in part by delaying some compliance requirements, according to a new report by the state’s environmental regulatory staff.

California environmental regulators plan to plug a pair of loopholes in the state’s drayage regulation that allow some operators to game the system, port officials and state regulators said.

California environmental regulators were expected late last week to make public their final slate of proposed amendments designed to help motor carriers ease the financial pain of complying with the state’s tough heavy-duty truck greenhouse gas emissions reduction and retrofitting regulations.

A slate of proposed amendments to California’s tough heavy truck diesel emissions reduction regulation would save the trucking industry more than $3 billion in retrofits and engine replacements and delay some compliance requirements by a year or more, according to a report by the state’s environmental regulatory staff.

Lawyers for American Trucking Associations have filed a petition asking that all 13 federal appeals court judges with the District of Columbia Circuit reconsider a three-judge panel’s decision that let California’s “reefer retrofit” rule stand.