Truck Convoy Protests Emissions Regulations - CA Air Resources Board To Consider Moving Deadline

[Kadie]

Truck Convoy Protests Emissions Regulations
California Air Resources Board To Consider Moving Deadline

About 150 truckers formed a convoy to Sacramento today in protest of a new emissions requirement taking effect in January that will ban about 1,000 trucks from entering the Port of Oakland.

The drivers arrived just before noon in Sacramento, where the emissions requirement was being discussed at a meeting of the California Air Resources Board.

The requirement, scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2010, will prohibit drayage trucks manufactured in 1993 or earlier from entering the port and require other trucks to install a new diesel particulate filter.

"It costs our business $124 million from now until 2016, and we just -- you know, the construction industry, our business is down 65 percent, and we just couldn't afford to do it," said Mike Cook, of A and A Concrete.

The port, the state air resources board, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Environmental Protection Agency came together to provide $22 million in grants to retrofit or replace trucks that did not comply with the new requirements.

Bay Area Air Quality Management District spokesman Ralph Borrmann said the funds were used to retrofit or replace about 1,000 trucks, but that about 1,000 more still need funding to meet the new standards.

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