Small truckers at risk

Ducor resident and trucking company owner Dave Schwartz considers himself a “modern-day environmentalist.” He’s an antique truck aficionado who takes great enjoyment in keeping his vehicles in tip-top shape.

However, members of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) —11 people appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and charged with regulating the state’s air quality — do not agree.

As of January 2011, the five trucks Schwartz operates as part of his niche hauling operation, Andromeda Transport, will be illegal on California’s highways until their engines have been retrofitted or replaced entirely.

“If I was to replace all my equipment... by the time I get everything done you’re looking at $600,000 to replace it all,” he said. “I didn’t even gross that last year.”

The CARB regulations are meant to reduce diesel exhaust, specifically the release of fine particulate matter referred to as PM2.5, a reference to the particles’ size in micrometers, which are believed to be harmful to human health.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, PM2.5 (which includes all particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) “are believed to pose the greatest health risks.”

The health risks listed on the CARB site include the potential to cause cancer, premature death, and other health problems.

However, CARB hosted a public symposium Feb. 26 on the science behind the methodology used to estimate PM-related premature deaths in California after the research behind the ruling was called into question.

Aside from the sheer economic impact of the new regulations on the trucking industry, Schwartz said he sees the CARB’s conclusions at best, foolhardy, and at worst, purposely based on false pretenses.

He said he believes the studies backing up the conclusions about the danger of PM2.5 to cardiovascular health are riddled with errors, citing the discovery of the falsification of a doctoral degree by lead researcher, Hien Tran.

However, “even if the science was correct,” Schwartz said, “the timeline is way too fast” for the capabilities of many in the California trucking industry.

That timeline, according to Vester East of local dealership E.M. Tharp, Inc., has a 80 to 95 percent chance of being extended for a year.

East said E.M. Tharp’s involvement in the issue extended to attending meetings in Sacramento where pushing the deadline for revamping fleets to January 2012 has been a hot topic.

“If there are any changes made, they’ll probably be brought forth by the end of April,” he said.

Until then, East said the dealership has been helping trucking companies both big and small sort out their options.

“We are just going by the ruling right now,” he said. “They have to look at their routes and what they’re able to afford.”

Smaller trucking operations will take the brunt of the regulations, said Don Williams, Director of Maintenance with Young’s Commercial Transfer (YCT).

YCT, he said, will survive the tightening of air quality standards aimed at highway trucks, but companies running just a few vehicles will simply be unable to come up with the liquidity necessary to alter their older engines to fit the new standards — much less replace them entirely.

Fortunately, Williams said, YCT purchased 15 new tractors last year which he expects to be within the new regulations for at least the next 10 years.

A less expensive option than purchasing new equipment is fitting the engines with a diesel particulate filter that re-burns the exhaust, keeping PM2.5 from entering the atmosphere at its current rate.

Still, the price tag isn’t an easy one to stomach for owner-operators who sometimes minimize overhead by purchasing older equipment in the first place.

Between $40,000 and 50,000 would suffice for a retrofit, Schwartz estimated, to get one of his trucks up to standard. Getting brand new equipment, however, would take about $120,000 to 140,000 out of his pocket — per purchase.

YCT’s Williams said though his company swallowed the expense in order to keep moving produce, it was a “major purchase... to go through.”

In addition, he said the consumer will end up paying up to make up the losses trucking companies will take as they work to bring their equipment up to snuff.

“It’ll either put a strain on getting produce moved, or add extra cost to the consumer,” he said. “The trucks are bringing the groceries to the grocery store, so this affects everyone.”

Echoing the viewpoint of many in the current economic climate, Williams said he has “mixed feelings” about the timing of the regulations.

“I think they’re hurting one industry — the trucking industry — pretty hard, and with the economy the way it is, it’s hard to make a buck anyway,” he said.

Even so, he believes that the CARB effort to lessen the amount of diesel particulate in the air is an admirable one.

“From my standpoint,” he said, “it hurts my livelihood, but I certainly have nothing against cleaning up the air.”

If the timeline is extended, as East expects, it will likely be in an effort to help the owner-operators comply fully with the ruling.

Though Porterville College Natural Science and Mathematics Division Chair Richard Goode believes there is a need to regulate air quality because of its effect on human health, he said he also sees the side of those who will have to pay to better it.

“Every little bit [of minimizing particulates] can help; however you’ve got to balance that out with the economic issue and the sheer fact that we have to move so many goods within California,” he said. “The trucking industry is vital to the economy.”

The dilemma, Goode said, is exacerbated within the San Joaquin Valley because pollution tends to be blown into the middle of the state but then becomes trapped against the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

“Pollution and particulate matter just doesn’t make it out — it stays,” he said.

Goode said when particulate matter rates rise, the young, elderly and sick become at risk for respiratory illness.

Though diesel does tend to put PM2.5 into the atmosphere, he said, other sources such as cars, stoves and fireplaces add to the reduction in the Valley’s air quality.

The push to regulate PM2.5 is a tightening of prior rulings regarding a slightly larger particle, PM10.

Annie Esperanza, air resources specialist with Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, said an the finer particles have been deemed “much more detrimental to human health.”

She said the move to regulate emissions will help eliminate PM2.5 since diesel engines “tend to emit more particulate matter” than their gas counterparts. “The way they burn doesn’t completely combust as well, so you‘ll have more by-products.”

Esperanza said that such regulations are not made lightly, and that “a lot of research work is backing up” the stricter standards.

It’s especially important, she said, in an area “known for its air pollution.”

Still, Schwartz said CARB will have to take him kicking and screaming to the dealership if they want him to alter his vehicles, which he said would drag him deep into debt.

“I like my old trucks. They’re antiques — they’re history,” he said. “They’re going to have to make me retrofit.”

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.

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