Board Bans Purchase of Diesel Buses, Trash Trucks

In an unprecedented crackdown on pollution from diesel engines, the South Coast Air Quality Management District board unanimously adopted sweeping new rules Friday that would force use of cleaner-burning alternative fuels in bus and trash truck fleets.

The regulations, approved after a contentious hearing, immediately ban the purchase of diesel-powered buses by the Orange County Transportation Authority and other large transit operators in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

But in response to a lobbying blitz from an army of diesel advocates, the board accepted an amendment to reconsider the ban if the California Air Resources Board should certify that diesel engines that burn ultra-low-sulfur fuel and have particulate traps to reduce soot are as environmentally clean as natural gas vehicles.

“Today’s action is going to accelerate competition between alternative fuels and diesel and both fuel types will ultimately be the winner,” said the board’s executive officer, Barry Wallerstein. “The public is the biggest winner of all because of cleaner air, lower cost due to competition and better technology.”

The board’s action, which also included adoption of a rule ordering government agencies to purchase low-emission vehicles for their fleets, came after more than three hours of testimony pitting diesel engine manufacturers and oil company representatives against the natural gas industry, environmentalists and community organizations.

Environmentalists praised the board’s decision. “This is a major step forward to protect our communities from the hazard of diesel exhaust,” said Gail Ruderman Feuer, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If diesel can come clean, then it deserves a shot. But it has a long way to go before they reduce the cancer risk.”

The state Air Resources Board in 1998 declared that diesel soot is a toxic air pollutant. Amid mounting evidence of the health risks, regulatory officials in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Washington have proposed a variety of steps to reduce diesel emissions.

The air quality board’s action effectively closes the door to the purchase of more diesel buses by transit agencies that operate more than 100 buses. Operators with 15 to 99 buses were given until July 1, 2001, before being subject to the requirement to buy alternative fuel vehicles. The lone exception is for longer, articulated buses, which can still be diesel powered.

The air quality district also took aim at trash trucks by requiring that public and private refuse haulers that operate more than 50 garbage trucks buy alternative fuel vehicles when they add or replace vehicles in their fleets. The larger operators were given until July 1, 2001, to comply, while smaller operators were given two years. More time was provided for larger trucks that haul trash from transfer stations to landfills.

A third rule would require that new cars and light and medium duty trucks added to government fleets of 15 or more vehicles meet new state low-emission standards. Many new gasoline-powered vehicles, including the 2000 Toyota Camry and Ford Crown Victoria, would qualify. Police cars and other emergency vehicles would be exempt.

The board also approved a motion by Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson to encourage the state to examine the retrofitting of all existing diesel vehicles--not just buses and trash trucks--for use of low-sulfur fuel and particulate traps.

Robert Sulnick, executive director of a lobbying group that includes business interests, oil companies and some school districts and transit operators, pushed hard for the amendment to reconsider the diesel ban if newer diesel engines are certified as clean as alternative fuels.

“It’s patently confusing; on the one hand they have said our position on clean diesel is a really good thing for retrofits. Why isn’t it good enough for new vehicles?” he asked. “It’s not an egalitarian approach to policymaking. It’s a biased approach.”

The new rules are the first in a series of proposals by the air quality board to tighten controls on diesel emissions, which have been found to be responsible for 70% of the region’s airborne toxic contaminants.

Representatives of community and public health groups from South-Central to East Los Angeles and the Inland Empire called on the board to help reduce the amount of diesel exhaust they believe contributes to health problems in their neighborhoods.

Dr. Scott Weissman, a Los Angeles pediatrician, warned that diesel exhaust is leading to a sharp increase in the number of asthma cases, particularly in children. “Air cannot move normally in and out of the lungs.” He compared the effect to “trying to suck air through a straw.”

Granada Hills resident Mary Edwards said the issue is simple. “The bottom line is health and children.”

And Neil Silver, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union local that represents mechanics at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said experience shows that compressed natural gas buses are “far cleaner than diesel.” To transit workers, cleaner burning alternative fuels are “literally a matter of life and breath,” he said.

Representatives of engine and oil companies were quick to argue that the latest diesel engines can be made far cleaner by using low-sulfur fuel and particulate traps similar to catalytic converters on cars. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed slashing the sulfur content in diesel fuel from as much as 500 parts per million to 15 ppm. The air quality board will consider its own low-sulfur diesel regulation this summer.

Jed Mendel, general counsel for the Engine Manufacturers Assn., questioned the board’s legal right to regulate against diesel. He said the association believes that regulations on mobile sources of pollution are limited to state and federal authorities.

Mendel said the board should allow fleet operators the “freedom of technology choice” in selecting vehicle and fuel types. He added that having local air quality districts make their own rules on government fleets would result in a “patchwork quilt” of regulations.

Representatives of oil companies BP/Amoco and Tosco also testified that dramatic reductions in diesel emissions are possible.

To have the board reopen the issue, diesel proponents must prove to the state that the newer engines, low-sulfur fuel and particulate traps can reduce emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and toxics to levels comparable with those of natural gas vehicles. The amendment approved Friday would require the board to act within 90 days of any state certification.