Our Issue: Diesel Pollution Control Rules

What’s the deal?
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is working on a statewide regulation to reduce the public's exposure to cancer-causing exhaust and other pollution from diesel engines. This regulation will require essentially all commercial equipment with diesel engines to be retrofitted to meet 2007 emission standards or be replaced with equipment that does. This regulation is proposed for approval in October 2008 and will commence phase in of its implementation on December 31, 2010.

Why do I care?
If you own a diesel truck, tractor, generator, pump or any other equipment that you use on your farm, you will probably be affected.  Unless your equipment is brand new, it won’t meet the standard.

All pre-2004 engines will be required to reduce NOx emissions by 70%

All 2004-2006 engines will be required to reduce NOx emissions by 40%

ARB’s current exemption threshold is for engines used for less than 1000 miles and/or 100 hours per year.  All vehicle will be affected, including out-of-state and international vehicles that operate in California (another real incentive to business in California).

There is no cheap, easy bolt-on that can be applied to an engine to get it to meet these standards.  The engine replacement needed could well exceed the value of a perfectly operational piece of equipment and it will come out of your pocket, to the tune of many thousands of dollars per engine.

The California Farm Bureau is estimating this could cost the State’s private economy fifty billion dollars to implement.

Where do I find more?
web: www.arb.ca.gov/dieseltruck

Also, the California Farm Bureau is heavily involved with this issue and can provide more information.  Contact them at:
California Farm Bureau Federation, 2300 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833
Phone: (916) 561-5500, Fax: (916) 561-5695, General Information: cfbf@cfbf.com

What can I do?
Log in with the ARB and provide your comments:
web: www.arb.ca.gov/dieseltruck
phone: 1-866-634-3735

Talking Points
 The requirement to retrofit an engine needs to be in keeping with the level of service the equipment performs in a year.  A million-mile intrastate trucker is simply not in the same category as a three-week per year harvester.

When requirements get draconian, people take their business elsewhere.  With our current budget situation, the state cannot afford to drive business away.

The state needs to put a great deal more thought into how to make this transition affordable to the ordinary small business.  Vehicles that are due for replacement anyway are a no-brainer, and the high mileage vehicles roll over much faster than limited use vehicles.  Grandfathering has been used in the past to great effect to allow attrition to take care of the bulk of the problem.  Anytime an engine needs rebuilt, upgrade it at that time.

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