Coalition to Build a Cleaner California Unveils Proposal to Make State Construction Fleet the Cleanest in the World
SACRAMENTO – The Coalition to Build a Cleaner California today publicly announced a new approach to the California Air Resources Board’s proposed off-road (construction equipment) diesel engine regulations that would meet the CARB’s clean air goals and result in the cleanest construction fleet in the world.
The Coalition, which includes labor – carpenters, laborers and operating engineers among others; the construction industry – contractors, engineers and builders; and others affected by CARB’s proposed regulations, such as the CA Ski Industry Association, the Air Transport Association; and infrastructure stakeholders like the CA Building Industry Association and the California Alliance for Jobs, proposed an alternative approach which would clean up the air while keeping the most number of construction companies in business and workers employed; the bidding environment at its most competitive; the Rebuild California bond program on schedule; and construction cost increases to a minimum.
“The Coalition to Build a Cleaner California, the construction industry and its workers are not trying to stop these CARB regulations, we want them to work,” said Mike Lewis, Sr. VP of the Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition. “That is why after working with CARB for more than three years on this rule we have developed an alternative option that will result in California having the cleanest construction fleets in the world.”
The goals of the Coalition plan are simple:
- Achieve better emission reduction for 2015 than the CARB proposal.
- Keep the same starting date as the CARB proposal.
- Require annual reporting to demonstrate progress toward the goal.
- Provide maximum flexibility for contractors to reach the target.
- Allow more time at the back-end for new Tier 4 engines to enter the fleet (estimated to be approximately 2014/2015)
- Recognize the wide divergence in fleet sizes, emissions and capabilities.
- Permit each fleet to determine how best to achieve the reductions.
- Give credit to those fleets that provide early emissions of both NOx and PM.
- Minimize the financial impact to keep the most firms in business.
- Maintain a highly competitive bidding environment.
The most significant difference between the CARB proposal and the alternative plan is moving the 2020 goal for large fleets to 2025, which is necessary in order to allow more time for Tier 4 engines – which will achieve all the emission targets without any further retrofitting and will not be available until 2014/2015 – to enter the market and be acquired by contractors.
“Given the multi-billion dollar cost of this regulation the construction industry should at least be given the opportunity to comply in the most reasonable and flexible manner possible,” said John Dunlap, a former CARB chairman. “We can’t emphasize this enough: This Coalition is not about scrapping CARB’s proposed rules or targets. This alternative is the best way to achieve the desired emission reductions and minimize the cost to achieve the goal.”
“No one wants to see California meet the goals proposed by CARB staff more than construction workers,” said Patrick Henning of the California State Council of Laborers. “We are committed to working with stakeholders to find a feasible solution that achieves the state’s air quality goals and makes sure those goals can be met in a reasonable timeframe. We agree that this alternative will do that.”
For a full copy of the Coalition to Build a Cleaner California Alternative proposal, click here .
The Coalition to Build a Cleaner California is committed dedicated to playing an active role in improving the state’s air quality, but we must find an achievable solution. The CARB staff’s current proposed regulations are based upon faulty assumptions that overstate the availability of technology; understate the economic impact on the industry and its workers; and the detrimental impact upon the cost and timing of the infrastructure bond construction projects approved by voters last year.