Federal, California Regulators Urged to Deny Industry Petition to Delay or Reverse California Off-Road Diesel Rule

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Contact:
Janea Scott, 917-674-0513-c, jscott@edf.org 
Sean Crowley, 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org
 
(Los Angeles - January 5, 2008) Federal and state regulators should deny an industry petition to delay or reverse a California rule to clean up off-road diesel vehicles, including construction vehicles, said a senior attorney for Environmental Defense Fund today.
 
The comments came during an 11:00 a.m. news conference at the Los Angeles County Puente Hills Landfill to demonstrate off-road diesel vehicle retrofits funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB). The news conference also included EPA Regional Administrator Wayne Nastri, CARB Chair Mary Nichols and South Coast Air District Executive Officer Barry Wallerstein.
 
“Timely and efficient execution of the off-road rule is critical to the state meeting its clean air requirements and to saving and improving thousands of lives of California residents and workers on job sites,” said Janea Scott, a senior attorney for Environmental Defense Fund based in Los Angeles.  “We are encouraged by the progress companies are making so far to implement this rule. We hope that businesses, government agencies, environmental and health groups continue their partnership to ensure safe and effective implementation of the off-road rule.”
 
Cleaning up these diesel vehicles has huge environmental and economical benefits, contrary to claims by the largest and oldest national construction trade association in the United States — the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC of America) — and its two California chapters, in their Dec. 15 petition to CARB to reconsider or repeal the rule. The AGC of America and its two California chapters also asked EPA on Dec. 22 to defer or deny California’s pending request for approval to implement the rule. CARB is scheduled to hold a hearing on January 22 to review updates on the off-road rule, which will include a report on the status of retrofit technology. 
 
CARB crafted the off-road rule with input from the construction industry to minimize the cost of implementation. It would phase in over 15 years, ensuring a steady decline in pollution from construction equipment, with the cost of the regulation representing only 0.3 percent of the total annual construction revenue generated in California in 2005. CARB estimates that the entire industry will have to spend between $3 billion and $3.4 billion over the full 15-year period to comply with the proposed rule compared to the $18 billion to $26 billion it is expected to save in prevented health care costs.
 
“The pollution from construction and other off-road equipment represents the second largest source of toxic diesel pollution in the state,” concluded Scott.  “Contrary to construction industry’s claims, technology is available today to effectively reduce this pollution and has been demonstrated to also ensure safe operation of the vehicle.”
 
CARB’s programs are providing incentives for new, green jobs in the retrofit installation and manufacturing business, according to EPA, despite the currently weak economy. Many of the retrofit companies are based in California and are providing job opportunities for next-generation mechanics, who will clean, repair, and install the retrofit devices and new vehicle technologies.  One example is San Leandro-based Cleaire, which manufactures its active particulate matter (PM) pollution filter for off-road vehicles. 
 
According to EPA and CARB:
 
•Toxic pollutants from off-road vehicles — largely construction equipment — were responsible for 1,100 premature deaths in California in 2005. 
•The off-road rule is expected to prevent 4,000 premature deaths in the state.
•Off-road vehicles are responsible for more than 1/4 of all mobile source nitrogen oxide emissions and almost 40 percent of all mobile source diesel PM emissions.
•The regulation is expected to reduce toxic diesel PM emissions 37 percent from the 2000 baseline by 2010 and 92 percent by 2020; and reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions 13 percent by 2015 and 32 percent by 2020.
 

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