There was a steady stream of gloomy testimony at the California Air Resources Board hearing yesterday from construction industry representatives describing ailing business and clamoring for delayed clean up deadlines for their fleets.  One observer offered that this rule was killing companies. It's true we're in a tough economic situation in California, but this rule hasn't even gone into effect yet, so how it's affecting companies already seems out of place.  One thing is for sure: The pollution from this industry is killing people.  By the thousands.   

What wasn't clear at the hearing was whether any of the companies that claim they are going out of business were considered "big fleets" triggering early clean-up requirements by the rule.  All other fleets get much more time to comply with the diesel rule and that means better access to public funds to help them clean up.  Fleets also have the choice of complying with the rule based on the hours that their equipment is used, in the unfortunate event that their business is down.  The ace CARB staff on this rule had the foresight to build this kind of flexibility into the rule, so that they wouldn't have to keep reopening the rule to fix it, which would only cause more delays in implemention.

Just this week, researchers announced findings that confirmed cleaner air could prolong your life by five months. This study reiterates what we already know in California, that air pollution negatively affects your health and can dramatically shorten your life. The CARB diesel rules reduce life-shortening air pollution, and are designed to allow financial assistance for those companies or individuals particularly hit by the economic downturn. Still, we should be looking beyond our economic state and realize that if we don't work to clean up air pollution from some of the dirtiest mobile polluters, we will be facing a costlier battle for our public health.

As I write this, the budget crisis continues with the Republicans demanding that any budget include provisions to water down environmental protections that are unique to California in that they are some of the strongest environmental laws in the nation. Unfortunately, the Off-road diesel regulation is one of those initiatives at risk. Honest budget negotiation should not play politics with our health, safety, and common heritage.