The California Air Resources Board (ARB) held hearings on proposed rules at the Marriott Del Mar Hotel on 24-25 May, 2007.
ARB staffers presented a number of new regulation proposals that would require fleet owners to reduce their diesel soot particulate matter or PM and NOx emissions. They offered to help plan strategies that include fleet modernization, which would include
replacing older engines or vehicles with newer cleaner ones, and installation of costly exhaust retrofits that capture and destroy pollutants before they are emitted into the atmosphere.
The Associated General Contractors of California (AGC) argue that the new regulations if implementd will severely impact California’s construction industry. Small contractors complain that only large companies will be able to afford to change-out their company’s diesel-engined off-road construction equipment (tractors, rollers, scrapers, loaders, paving machines).
AGC claims the diesel engine change-outs could conceivably cost California primes and subcontractors (large and small) billions. However, if those companies impacted are “fleet” owning then this means the effects will largely upon larger construction companies that have large lines of credit.
The common industry estimate for the proposed changes is $13 billion, while the Air Resources Board staff estimates it at only $4 billion.
ARB’s analysts however project that 5000 people will eventually die from the effects of airborne diesel particulates. Air pollution has become a major problem in the state of California. During the meeting the board approved an expenditure of $25 million in incentive funds for alternative fuel projects.
But improving environmental standards will mean significant investment. Caterpillar and Cummins observe that they won’t and actually cannot shift their production over to producing these engines as they are in the primary business of selling new equipment, not retrofitting older ones. Capterpiller explained that their profit margin is achieved through new equipment sales.
Many in the industry say they’d like to see a rewritten plan that would change the deadline from 2014 to 2020.
During the all-day hearing in San Diego, the Board heard testimonials from over 70 individuals. Some representatives of environmental groups attended, but most were representatives of the construction industry who either were completely opposed to the regulation plans or asked for more time to comply with them.
The rising cost of fuel has also hit transportation and construction industry hard, not just in the
United States but around the
world.
Click
here for the Resource Board report on the event. Also note that Compliance News now has a
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Don Zweifel is a registered lobbyist
