Protesters have sights set on capital

Hundreds of truckers, including a few from the Mid-Valley region, will descend on Sacramento Friday to protest clean-air rules they say will cripple their industry in the state.

Rally organizers said pending regulations that would gradually phase out older diesel truck engines aren't based in sound science and would cost millions to implement.

"Just imagine spending $2 million in four years," said Barry Greathouse, supervisor and dispatcher for trucking firm Nordic Industries in Olivehurst. That's the amount he said his company will have to spend to replace 24 old rigs in the next few years to comply with the regulations, at a cost of about $112,00 each.

"With the economy like it is, what's going to be out there for us to haul and make up that cost?" he said.

But an information officer for the California Air Resources Board regulation said there's a lot of misinformation about the regulation, and the costs involved aren't as high some may believe.

"I think there's a perception sometimes that the truck industry has been singled out," said Karen Caesar, a spokeswoman for CARB. "In fact, they're the largest emitter of diesel pollution that's unregulated."

Under the regulation passed by the air resources board last year, trucks must install a filter to reduce their particular matter pollution from burning diesel. To buy and install such filters can cost between $12,000 and $20,000 per truck, Caesar said, but fleet owners can also buy just enough to meet an overall fleet average for acceptable particulate matter emissions.

Truck fleets of four or more must have the filters installed by 2011, while smaller fleets have until 2013.

As well, by 2023 all trucks must have engines from 2010 or newer, Caesar said, though many trucks would've been replaced during that period anyhow.

The regulation follows similar rules for engines in other diesel-burning vehicles such as construction equipment, based on 1998 findings of diesel as a cancer-causing contaminant, Caesar said.

But industry representatives like Greathouse said the science used to justify the regulation is flawed.

Betty Plowman, membership services director for the California Dump Trucker Owners Association and a spokeswoman for the rally's organizers, said the industry already keeps an eye out for trucks spewing pollution.

"If you see a truck blowing black smoke, we'll be the first to report it," she said. "A well-maintained truck is not emitting the particulates they're worried about."

And Greathouse said regulators have already changed the blend of the diesel fuel trucks use to make it cleaner. "There is no more dirty diesel," he said.

Caesar said CARB's studies were peer-reviewed. "We couldn't implement the rule if the science wasn't correct," she said.

She added the air resources board considered the costs of implementing the regulation against the benefits, and determined implementing the rule would save between $48 billion and $69 billion in health care costs and other costs over the next 14 years.

Regulators expect trucking companies will pass on associated costs from the regulation to their customers, with a negligible rise in consumer prices the end result, she said.

Plowman said rally organizers want Sacramento legislators to realize the impacts of the regulation and exercise some oversight on CARB. "They definitely need to look at an agency that's putting even more people out of work," she said.

Organizers aren't sure how many will attend the rally, which will include convoys for truckers, farmers and construction companies affected by the rule and coming from both ends of the Central Valley and the Bay Area.

Of the rally, Caesar said organizers and speakers are entitled to their opinions, and she expected a great deal of interest in the issue.

Trucks will circle the streets around the state capitol building beginning at midday, with the rally coinciding by a protest by conservative, anti-tax groups.

Scheduled to speak at the rally is Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, who has introduced a bill that would suspend 2006's AB 32, the greenhouse gas bill that influenced CARB's regulations.

"This is just a gift to creating economic growth in other states," said Logue of AB 32. His bill, AB 118, would suspend AB 32 until it's adopted nationwide. "We just want parity," he said.

Greathouse, of Nordic Industries, said his company will send as many as two trucks to the rally, but he's not concerned about a lack of presence.

"I'm hoping someone says we need to take a serious look at this," he said. "Everybody should be concerned about the economic impact."

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com.