ShareThisSACRAMENTO, Calif. - California's sluggish economy has led to a sharp drop in greenhouse gas emissions from the state's struggling building industry, prompting regulators to consider a two-year delay in implementing pollution control rules for heavy construction equipment.
Officials at the California Air Resources Board said this week that their own studies have found that the number of bulldozers, front loaders and other heavy equipment has declined by about 25 percent with the recent construction downturn.
"The economy has had a major effect on emissions in this state," said Todd Sax, chief of the board's mobile sources analysis branch and technical support division.
The new rules require construction companies to retrofit existing heavy equipment to lower diesel emissions.
The regulations were originally to take effect in March 2010 for companies with large fleets, but the implementation date was indefinitely suspended in February.
At a workshop in El Monte, Calif., on Tuesday, ARB officials said they're leaning toward a 2012 date for large fleets.
The agency is considering a similar rollback for midsized and small construction fleets, said Kim Heroy-Rogalski, manager of the board's off-road implementation section. The rules are now scheduled to take effect in 2013 for mid-sized fleets and 2015 for small fleets.
The air board previously had estimated 195,000 heavy construction vehicles would be operating in California in 2009.
Following the economic slump, however, it revised the estimate to 145,000 vehicles, sharply reducing the amount of diesel particulates attributed to the construction industry.
Michael Kennedy, general counsel for the Associated General Contractors of America, called on the ARB to repeal the rule altogether. He said the state's new forecasts for the industry's emissions fall well below the levels that the state has targeted in each year through 2025.
He called the delay "a victory for sound science over rash regulation."
Environmental and health advocates expressed concerns about a broad-based rollback. "The bottom line is we do not want to see a reduction in the benefits that were promised," said Bonnie Holmes-Gen, senior policy director for the American Lung Association in California.
Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog(at)sacbee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
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