Company Name : Generic Source : Sacramento Bee

 

The state's construction and trucking industries will get more time to comply with stringent new diesel emissions regulations.

Citing the sluggish economy, the California Air Resources Board on Friday voted unanimously to push back the implementation of the new rules by four years to 2014.

"What the board was trying to do today is to balance the needs of our citizens for cleaner air … and to come up with something that provided meaningful relief to an industry that has been hard hit," said Mary Nichols, the board's chairwoman.

The rules require businesses to retrofit existing trucks, bulldozers, front loaders and other heavy equipment to lower diesel emissions.

The delay was opposed by environmental groups and clean-tech advocates, but the trucking and building industries applauded the board's decision.

Michael Kennedy, general counsel for the Associated General Contractors of America, said the state's building trades have been especially clobbered by the slow economy as "four out of 10" construction workers are now jobless.

"The revisions allow hard-hit construction firms the time and flexibility needed to modernize their diesel equipment in a way that actually delivers meaningful environmental benefits to the state's residents," Kennedy said.

The state decided to delay the new rules after it found that its original estimates on diesel emissions were too high.

The downturn in the economy resulted in fewer diesel vehicles in the state, resulting in a sharp drop in diesel particulates, ARB said.

According to the ARB, diesel particulates contribute to about 3,500 premature deaths and thousands of hospital visits and asthma attacks in California each year.

While health advocates opposed delays to the diesel rules, the proposal approved by the air board "maintains much of the public health protections," said Bonnie Holmes-Gen, senior policy director for the American Lung Association of California.

"We believe these rules are going to achieve the clean air benefits and health protections that we want," Holmes-Gen said.

The state said that even with the revised deadlines the rules will help prevent thousands of premature deaths a year while reducing diesel emissions.