On Wednesday, the NRDC filed a motion asking the federal appeals court in D.C. to allow it to participate in a case examining whether state and local governments can protect residents from deadly air pollution produced by off-road engines (e.g. construction equipment, commercial ships, etc).  It may seem an odd departure considering the last eight years of EPA shenanigans, but NRDC is intervening to help defend EPA's position (i.e. this is an instance where the Bush EPA did the right thing).  The "controversy" arose when EPA decided to interpret the Clean Air Act exactly as it was written-to allow local and state governments to control pollution from off-road engines such as the engines that run construction equipment, marine vessels, recreational vehicles, and a whole host of other equipment.  The American Road and Transportation Builders Association ("ARTBA"), a lobbyist group that boasts about its investment of "more than $1 million in environmental litigation on the industry's behalf" since 1993, did not like this decision, so it wants the federal appeals court in D.C. to hear this matter.  ARTBA's main contention is that the Clean Air Act does not permit local and state governments to enact measures aimed at controlling this pollution.  If successful, this petition could severely hamper several efforts across the nation to protect residents from harmful diesel pollution coming from the vast number of off-road engines and prevent many regions from meeting federal clean air standards.

To give you an example of the pollution levels we're looking at from these off-road engines, there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of off-road equipment in California ranging from lawn equipment to construction equipment to motor boats.  Off-road disesel vehicles in California were responsible for approximately 1,100 premature deaths from their air pollution in 2005.

A prime example of the potential impact of this litigation would be on the health and welfare of Californians.  In 2008, California passed a landmark regulation controlling pollution from construction and other equipment.  Local agencies have followed up with other programs aimed at beating back at the toxic pollution emitted by these off-road engines too.  Without these regulations, places like the Los Angeles region and the San Joaquin Valley will be doomed to continue to persist in a smog-stew.  It has been estimated that off-road equipment accounted for approximately 35 percent of the Nitrogen Oxides (known as NOx and a precursor to smog) emissions in the Los Angeles region.  Also, if nothing is done to control pollution from off-road engines, that percentage will rise sharply to 55 percent.  Because too much is at stake in this lawsuit, NRDC decided to ask the court to participate in the proeceedings to ensure it understands the need to preserve Congress' intent to allow state and local governments to protect residents from this lethal pollution.