California plan to cut diesel soot by 75 percent

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California plan to cut diesel soot by 75 percent

Air Resources Board

STEVE LAWRENCE, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (September 28, 2000 8:00 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - State regulators, attacking a significant cause of the state's air pollution, approved a plan Thursday to cut diesel engine emissions 75 percent over the next decade.

The plan imposes the toughest diesel pollution rules in the nation, requiring filters on new diesel engines sold in California and an overhaul of most existing engines. The plan, approved 10-0 by the Air Resources Board, also requires production of low-sulfur diesel fuel for engines equipped with the filters.

"It (diesel pollution) is certainly the No. 1 airborne toxic contaminant in California," said Jerry Martin, a board spokesman.

California, which already has the nation's toughest emission requirements for gasoline-powered cars and trucks, is the only state with the power to adopt emissions controls tougher than federal standards. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering its own set of diesel pollution limits for new heavy-duty engines in trucks and buses.

The proposal's drafters hope to equip 90 percent of California's 1.2 million diesel-powered engines with the filters, Martin said.

The board estimates it would cost $4,750 to $9,500 to retrofit a 475-horsepower heavy-duty truck engine. The cost will be borne primarily by engine owners, although the government may provide grants, Martin said.

Stephanie Williams, director of environmental affairs for the California Trucking Association, which represents 2,500 truck owners, said her group supports retrofitting. She called for a suspension of the state sales tax on low-sulfur fuel until 2006.

Trucks from out of state would not be required to meet the new standards, unless the EPA adopts similar regulations nationwide.

At the Sacramento 49er Travel Plaza along Interstate 80, truckers said the cost of retrofitting, combined with high fuel prices, is too much.

Trucker Joe Alves, on his way from Truckee to Calistoga to pick up a load of bottled water, said he couldn't afford to retrofit his truck.

"When they start making us pay for this, at that point I'll just turn over the truck," said Alves, who sometimes drives his shiny red semi 600 miles daily. "I'm not getting rich doing this, you know. They're not giving us a chance. It's getting really tight."

Norma Arenivas of Fresno, who travels with her trucker husband, said she supports the crackdown on diesel pollution.

"Lots of truckers drive with their wives and kids, but I don't let my girls do that - one's four, the other's six - because the smoke is so bad," said Arenivas, whose husband hauls tar for a trucking company.

Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents about 1,100 California growers, welcomed the addition of filters but questioned the need to retrofit tractors, bailers and other farm equipment.

http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500263380-500407758-502478940-0,00.html

"How can you spend $10,000 on a tractor that only works 30 days a year?" he asked. "You have to look at it in that perspective."

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 28, 2000

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These bureaucrats are nuts.

-- Buck (bigbuck@trailways.net), September 29, 2000.

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