Bravo for Diesel Emission Rules
Dogged regulators and environmentalists deserve the lion’s share of credit for new diesel standards announced last Wednesday, and the proposed new rules also represent a welcome if belated recognition by the trucking industry that it too must help clean up our still-dirty air.
The new standards unveiled by state Air Resources Board Chairman Alan Lloyd would require new diesel trucks and other vehicles to be virtually exhaust-free by 2007. Lloyd’s announcement comes as the federal Environmental Protection Agency is reportedly contemplating imposing similar standards nationwide. That would be an important move. The trucking industry, which has long resisted diesel limits, argues that since many firms operate nationally, state standards will disadvantage firms headquartered in California.
But the new focus on diesel exhaust is the next logical step in a 30-year-long effort to clean up our air. While the Los Angeles Basin is still the nation’s smog capital, remarkable progress has occurred. New gasoline-powered cars are virtually emission-free, an achievement due to both heavy regulatory pressure and recent technological advances. Factories and businesses have also made great strides in cutting their pollutants.
Diesel exhaust is one of the last great problems in complying with federal clean air mandates. And diesel is ubiquitous; millions of big-rig trucks, buses and farm and construction vehicles rely on diesel fuel. Because these vehicles are expensive, with trucks going for close to $100,000, and can last decades, the industry has resisted mandates requiring replacement or retrofitting. Meanwhile, cleaner diesel engines have been a long time in coming. Yet while they resisted earlier regulatory limits, diesel engine makers have nonetheless spent millions on research in recent years. That research is beginning to pay off; pollution-cutting catalysts that would work on heavy-duty diesel engines could soon be available.
Federal mandates and growing evidence pointing to the health dangers from diesel and other pollutants should keep the state Air Resources Board--and the industry--moving forward.
