Is California's off-road diesel regulation a taste of things to come?

摘要

On July 27, the California Air Resources Board adopted the In-Use Off-Road Diesel Vehicle Regulation - scheduled to take effect in 2009 - which will require California fleets with 25-horsepower engines or greater to either meet fleet average targets for specific emissions, or turnover and apply exhaust retrofits to a percentage of the fleets' horsepower per year. Numerous industries - including construction, mining, landscaping and utilities - will be affected by the rule if the board obtains a waiver approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in the coming months. There are already rumblings of lawsuits that will contest the regulation. Small private and municipal fleets (those with less than or equal to 1,500 horsepower) are exempt from the rule's turnover clause, as well as low-population counties (less than 125,000 people). These fleets and counties, however, must install filters according to their fleet average emission targets to reduce particulate matter. Exemptions exclude contractors who use equipment for 100 hours or more per year, leaving virtually every California contractor affected. (Check out http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/ ordiesel/ordiesel.htm for more information on fleet emissions formulas and additional exemptions.)