Federal Agency Should Block California's Off-Road Diesel Emissions Rule, Given Safety and Economic Consequences
California's plan to require construction contractors to install large and expensive emissions reduction kits on their off-road diesel equipment will put workers' lives at risk and force job cuts, a prominent union official and a member of the Associated General Contractors of America told federal officials today. As a result, both asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to deny or delay a decision to allow the state to proceed with its off-road rule.
"Denying this rule is the only way to protect the men and women working in California's construction industry from a new and grave risk of injury and death," said Guy Prescott, a representative of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union Three. "This rule will lead to additional fatalities."
Mr. Prescott noted that the large filters and new exhaust pipes that are part of many emissions reduction kits can impair visibility and greatly increase the risk of burns. Noting that obstructed lines of site are already a leading cause of fatal collisions with construction workers, he said the rule would increase the chance more workers would be hurt and killed.
Prescott added that his union had tried several times to warn the California Air Resources Board about the safety hazards of retrofitting existing equipment, but his union had been repeatedly ignored. "The Board is biased in favor of retrofits and incapable of making impartial determinations about the hazards they pose."
Meanwhile, Jon Cloud, Treasure of El Cajon, California-based J. Cloud Inc, a firm specializing in processing and providing recycled construction materials, told EPA officials that he has had to downsize his equipment fleet by over 30 percent and cut 14 percent of his workforce in order to cope with the cost of the new diesel emissions reductions rule.
"For too many small and family-owned businesses like ours, the only way to comply with this rule is to simply go out of business," said Mr. Cloud. "There is no reason to believe that the technology necessary to comply with this rule at anything approach an affordable cost is going to be developed soon enough to save companies like mine."
Cloud added that the off-road diesel rule isn't necessary to meet the state's aggressive emissions targets. He noted that the Associated General Contractors of America, using new data gathered by the Board last year, found that emissions from off-road diesel equipment will be below state target levels for at least several years to come. The state based its rule on an earlier emissions inventory that significantly overstated the amount of construction equipment in the state, he added.
View Mr. Cloud's remarks
View Mr. Prescott's presentation
###