Welcome to the Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition
Attention Contractors!
CARB Admits Huge Error! Attend Upcoming Workshops to Learn More.
California Air Resources Board (CARB) has scheduled a series of workshops (see schedule below) to review its most recent NOx and PM2.5 emissions inventories for the Off-Road Regulation. The updated inventories are roughly 20 percent of what they were originally estimated to be when the regulation was initially developed and adopted in 2007. The lower emissions inventory is attributable largely to revised fuel usage data, adjusted equipment load factors and an overall fleet that is smaller and newer than previous CARB estimates.
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Our Members
The Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition (CIAQC) was founded in 1989 to help their members understand and navigate the ever-increasing web of government environmental regulation under which they operate their businesses and build our communities, our infrastructure and the environmental systems that will enhance California’s future.
Supporting Members
Top Headlines
ARB concedes error in off-road truck rule, plans to revise regulation
By Daniel Weintraub, August 31, 2010
The California Air Resources Board acknowledged something Tuesday that critics have been saying for months: the state vastly over-estimated the amount of diesel pollution emitted by big off-road construction vehicles.
The error, contained in an ARB computer model and compounded by a recession that idled far more trucks than expected, means that the construction industry would come close to meeting state-mandated targets for reducing pollution through 2025 even if regulations designed to force firms to retire or retrofit their dirtiest trucks are repealed.
Disagreeing With CARB May Cost Your job
Katy Grimes: A 34-year environmental health sciences professor at UCLA appears to be on the chopping block and headed for the unemployment line for speaking out against diesel vehicle regulations, according to Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda. But that is not where it will end if Logue gets his way.
In a CalWatchdog exclusive, Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, shared a letter he authored, signed by 25 other state legislators, addressed to University of California chancellor Gene Block and Vice Chancellor Scott Waugh, stating that legislators believe Dr. James Enstrom is being terminated on August 30, for his outspoken opposition to AB 32, California’s global warming initiative.
Dan Walters: Storm blows again over diesel-soot rule
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger staged a set-piece media event in a Southern California railyard Monday and, among other things, echoed the assertions of his air quality regulator, Mary Nichols, that diesel truck and locomotive soot is a major health hazard.
But is it?
There's actually an intense argument in scientific and regulatory circles about diesel "particulates" – so intense that the leading academic critic of proposed diesel soot regulations has been ousted from his professorship at UCLA for, he says, not going with the academic and political flow.
LOIS HENRY: Independent thought not wanted at UCLA
Last Updated Saturday, Aug 14 2010 09:18 PM
I know you're going to wonder why you should care about some brainiac getting the boot at UCLA. So let me start by explaining why it matters, then we'll get to the nitty gritty of what happened.
It matters because it looks like UCLA is firing this guy because his work on air pollution doesn't fit with popular thinking and it wants to shut him up.
Editorial: Air board still scandalous
Contrary evidence on diesel rules seems to be ignored
By The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board
In December 2008, this editorial page reported that Hien Tran – the lead California Air Resources Board scientist on a study used to justify sweeping, costly new rules on diesel emissions – had lied about his academic credentials. The scandal seemed to unfold in slow motion. Finally, 10 months later, two members of the air board – Fresno cardiologist John Telles and San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts – denounced the regulatory agency for not disclosing Tran’s dishonesty before the vote to adopt diesel rules based on his work. This helped prompt the suspension of the rules.
Now, 10 more months have passed, and something extremely curious is unfolding.
Contrary to promises made by air board Chairwoman Mary Nichols, the accuracy of Tran’s central premise – that PM2.5 (tiny soot particles from exhaust, smoke and dust) causes thousands of premature deaths each year in California – has been found wanting. In February, a CARB-commissioned outside study was released that found no evidence for his claim. This corroborated independent scientists who said Tran’s theory was flawed because it was based on studies from Eastern states, where sulfates are common and may interact with PM2.5 to harmful effect.
Yet this finding doesn’t seem to have had any effect on regulators, who have informally made clear to industry groups that they still want to impose Tran’s rules even though they will bankrupt hundreds of small businesses that can’t afford expensive new engines or engine retrofits.
This isn’t right. Roberts’ spokesman said Friday that the supervisor plans to raise questions at a board meeting next week about the air board staff’s reaction to the contrary evidence. In disturbing ways, the reaction parallels the staff’s reaction to confirmation of Tran’s deceit and its decision to pursue a cover-up. It may be time for Telles and Roberts to give another lecture to Nichols on honesty and professionalism.
South Coast AQMD Permit Application Penalty "Holiday"
To help protect the region's business climate and clean air interests during current economic conditions, the South Coast Air Quality Management District has established a temporary permit application penalty holiday. This amnesty program is designed to provide most businesses an opportunity to obtain AQMD air quality permits without incurring late fees or violation penalties.
Some facilities, especially small businesses, may be unaware of the requirements for air pollution permits for their operations, and the potential penalties for failing to obtain those permits. If a business does not have all required air quality permits to construct or operate certain equipment, and it is being brought into compliance with applicable rules and regulations, AQMD will not seek penalties for violation of rules that require such permits. In addition, AQMD will waive the normal higher processing fee for failing to obtain a permit. Businesses that come into compliance at this time could see cost savings (depending on equipment type) ranging from $300 to over $5,000. The business, however, will be required to pay normal permit processing fees.
Caltech is base for $20 million air quality study - the state's most comprehensive ever
Minute particles in the air register on computers inside a row of trailers that will remain on an empty lot at Caltech until mid-June.
Inside one of them, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist Bill Kuster points to a graph showing how carbon monoxide inches up in the morning.
"We see rush hours and stuff like that," Kuster said, pointing to a spot in the graph when a construction truck working on campus drives past.
Scientists from all over the country are flocking to California this month to conduct the largest study ever on the state's air quality.
To do it, they've launched a fleet of planes and a ship and have built two temporary measuring stations - one at Caltech and the other in the Central Valley. Caltech professor John Seinfeld called the project "the most comprehensive experiment aimed at understanding Los Angeles air quality ever conducted."
Calif. considers delaying diesel-emission rules
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California air regulators took steps Thursday to delay the nation's toughest rules to slash emissions from diesel-powered construction equipment, saying the poor economy has left many of the vehicles sitting idle.
Members of the California Air Resources Board said they want to give companies more time to comply because construction activity in the state is down about 50 percent since the regulations were adopted three years ago, and that has significantly reduced harmful emissions.
Next Round of Federal Regulations Has Suppliers Retooling Clean Diesel
EPA’s Tier 4 tailpipe rule hits next year as new carbon rules linger on the horizon.
The next phase of U.S. regulations aimed at cleaning up airborne emissions from off-road diesel engines will start taking effect in just nine months. The rule, called Tier 4, will all but eliminate the amount of diesel particulate matter (soot) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that new construction equipment will put into the atmosphere.
Split into two subrules, the Tier 4 standard begins phasing in with an interim rule in January 2011 for engines from 175 horsepower to 750 hp and, in 2012, for engines from 75 hp to 175 hp. The Tier 4 rule cuts down the soot an engine may emit by 90% compared to the current Tier 3 standard, and it cuts the amount of NOx an engine is allowed to put out by 45%. What will follow in 2014 is an even tougher Tier 4 Final standard, which will cut NOx output by another 45%. Then, new construction equipment will emit virtually no NOx or soot.
Defections Shake Up Climate Coalition
Three big companies quit an influential lobbying group that had focused on shaping climate-change legislation, in the latest sign that support for an ambitious bill is melting away.
Oil giants BP PLC and ConocoPhillips and heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said Tuesday they won't renew their membership in the three-year-old U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a broad business-environmental coalition that had been instrumental in building support in Washington for capping emissions of greenhouse gases.
The move comes as debate over climate change intensifies and concerns mount about the cost of capping greenhouse-gas emis sions.
Winds carry Asian smog component to Western U.S., study finds
Experts say that baseline ozone, the amount of gas not produced by local vehicles and industries, has increased in springtime months by 29% since 1984.
Ozone from Asia is wafting across the Pacific on springtime winds and boosting the amount of the smog-producing gas found in the skies above the Western United States, researchers said in a study released Wednesday.
Obama's EPA to ratchet down smog goals
New federal clean-air guidelines will continue to reduce smog in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier areas, but business owners struggling in the down economy feared any new rules would threaten their livelihoods, according to officials and business owners.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed stricter health standards for smog, replacing limits that reportedly ran counter to recommendations from scientists.
State air board must clean its own house
The California Air Resources Board recently threw out a tainted study about the health effects of diesel truck emissions after it was disclosed that the author of the report had lied about his academic credentials. CARB officials had known since December 2008 that the researcher had falsified his credentials, but did not tell board members.
Attention Contractors
We need to hear from large fleets that cannot rely on Reduced Activity Credit alone to comply with the Off-Road Regulation’s first compliance deadline (March 1, 2010).
The Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition (CIAQC) is working with its member associations and members to gain additional regulatory relief from the CARB Off-Road Regulation for equipment owners and operators. By March 1, 2010 large fleets (greater than 5,000 total fleet horsepower) must achieve NOx and particulate matter (PM) fleet average target rates or meet Best Available Control Technology (BACT).
CARB Announces Informal Grace Period to Self-Report Off-Road Vehicles Without Penalty
On Tuesday, December 15, 2009 the California Air Resources Board (CARB) extended an informal grace period for fleets that have not yet reported their off-road vehicles. Fleets that self-report will not face enforcement action if they report all of their vehicles prior to January 1, 2010 (for large and medium fleets) and March 1, 2010 (for small fleets).
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