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ATA Offers Mixed Review of California Diesel Ruling

31 August 1998

ATA Offers Mixed Review of California Diesel Ruling

    ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 28 -- Yesterday's decision by
California regulators to list only the particulate portion of diesel exhaust
as a toxic air contaminant is a "marked improvement" over an earlier proposal
that would have broadly listed whole diesel exhaust as toxic, Walter B.
McCormick, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Trucking
Associations said today. "However," McCormick added, "the decision still
leaves important questions unanswered."
   "Yesterday's action by the California Air Resources Board lays to rest
questions about diesel's continued viability as a fuel in California,"
McCormick said. "It is a step in the right direction."
    McCormick said the board rightly recognized the limitations of the
scientific evidence. CARB modified its findings to state that there is only an
"association" of health effects from exposure to diesel exhaust rather than a
"causal link" between exposure to diesel exhaust and detrimental health
effects. The CARB resolution further noted that its risk factors were limited
by their reflection of "exposures to exhaust from historical diesel fuel
formulations and engine technologies" rather than the improved fuels and new
engine technologies of today.
    "Yesterday's decision leaves several unanswered questions and concerns,"
McCormick warned. "Most importantly, CARB failed to reconcile the
inconsistency between the way in which the federal Environmental Protection
Agency and CARB interpret the same scientific studies."  Earlier this year, an
independent panel of EPA scientific advisors, reviewing the same evidence as
CARB, rejected EPA staff findings of a relationship between diesel exhaust and
cancer.
    CARB will now form a working group to advise the board's staff on risk
management efforts and to determine what, if any, action to take to reduce
diesel particulate emissions. "We will continue being active and vocal
participants in this next phase of the process, and we concur with the need
for further research before any regulatory action is taken,"  McCormick said.
    The trucking industry is actively engaged in reducing engine emissions.
Particulate emissions from new diesel engines have been reduced by over 90%
from uncontrolled levels, according to the EPA. Considering similar reductions
in emissions of nitrogen oxides, new trucks emit only one-eighth the emissions
from a 1987 truck. "These significant reductions in emissions levels, with
more planned for 2004, should go a long way toward managing any possible risk
posed by diesel exhaust," McCormick said.
    "We are prepared to work aggressively to further reduce engine emissions,
such as  through in-use smoke inspection programs," McCormick said. ATA is
also participating in a  joint EPA-CARB program examining various fuel
formulations for meeting the 2004 standards, and is in the second year of the
"On the Road to Clean Air" program run jointly with the Engine Manufacturers
Association.