Sad to say that any candidate who ran on reversing these rules, or slowing the new ones would only get the vote of the business people. We are far outnumbered by the vast urban educated masses who believe anything that makes noise, dust, smoke, etc. is evil and should be outlawed. This is perpetuated by the media, who has convinced the masses that our air is dirty, our water poluted, and our lifestyle generally at odds with the world. The opposite is true. Our air is cleaner now than in the 70's, despite the fact that nearly 4 times as many people live here.
I have stood and spoken at CARB board meetings, along with hundreds of other business owners, only to be treated like we are a bunch of baby killers. The other side parades out the poor welfare mother who lives in subsidised housing near the port, and has small children with athsma. That plays to the press better than a hard working business owner who has supported the state for 20 years.
The rule as passed into law now required all large fleets, over 5,000 fleet horsepower, to register by the first of last month, and no fleet, large or small, can add a non-tier engine to their fleet. The tier 1 was introduced in roughly 1996, depending on horsepower.
Right now, any pre 1996 equipment is worthless in CA. If it was registered in your fleet by the deadline, you can continue to operate it, but you can't buy another one, or sell it in state. These machines are now basically worth scrap iron price in this state.
The next catch is the fleet averaging, that says you must retire or replace up to 20% of the total installed horsepower of your fleet each year untill your emissions are down to the formula set by the state. This is where it gets even more fuzzy, because reality has nothing to do with it, only what you can document. One old engine, such as a D-8K you use only 300 hours per year, can cancel out the D-8T in your fleet that works 3,000 hours.
You can designate a machine "low use" and then use it up to 100 hrs per year. Once you make that designation, you may NEVER use it over 100 hrs per year, under penalty of law.
I am all for cleaner air, but this rule, and many like it in CA are the death of many industries. CARB's own research has shown that by only relying on the federal rules at the manufacturer level, we will get the same level of reduced emissions, just about 3 years later than they will by spending BILLIONS of dollars trying to retrofit old iron, and force fleets into replacing viable machines earlier than economically feasable.
