DIAMOND BAR, California, October 2, 2007 (ENS) - The California Air Resources Board has approved a multi-faceted plan to improve air quality throughout the state. It will require replacement or cleanup of the dirtiest trucks on the road, and a program for out-of-state trucks doing business in California. It also requires cleanup of large off-road equipment, ships and locomotives.

"The 2007 State Implementation Plan shows how California expects to attain clean air through a combination of innovative and cost-effective measures," said Mary Nichols, ARB chair, announcing the plan on Thursday. "With this vital document in place, we have a roadmap to the future that will keep us on track to meet our air quality goals."

In addition to the state strategy, the Board approved a plan submitted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to hasten emissions reductions through cooperative measures to be implemented by both ARB and the district.

This plan, which will reduce emissions of the smog precursor nitrogen oxides, NOx, by more than 500 tons per day by 2014. Nitrogen oxides react with sunlight to form ozone, a key ingredient of smog.

This plan to reduce NOx now becomes part of the state implementation plan, SIP, which will be forwarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for final approval.

Also approved was an expedited strategy to improve ozone air quality in the San Joaquin Valley, the state's agricultural heartland, some 90 percent by 2018 in terms of the federal standard.

The strategy calls for ARB to clean up emissions from farm equipment, and to partner with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to accelerate the timeline of recently passed off-road construction rules by offering financial incentives to valley businesses aimed at getting older, dirtier engines retrofitted or replaced.

Both the South Coast and San Joaquin plans focus on efforts to meet federal deadlines for emissions of ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter, PM2.5.

Both ozone and fine particulate matter can affect human health. Ozone contributes to respiratory ailments and asthma, and can cause premature death in elderly patients with lung disease. Exposure to PM2.5 worsens respiratory and cardiovascular ailments and is responsible for some 8,200 premature deaths per year in the state.

Target dates for compliance are 2014 for PM2.5, and 2023 for ozone in areas designated by the EPA as having "extreme" air pollution such as the San Joaquin Valley and South Coast Air Basin, which includes Los Angeles.

While the federal ozone attainment date for the San Joaquin Valley remains 2023, the board's new proposal will fast-track efforts to get 90 percent compliance by 2018. The last 10 percent will require new technologies that are not readily available now.

Because ARB scientists determined that reducing emissions of one pollutant, NOx, is the most beneficial in reducing levels of both ozone and PM2.5, the state plan focuses on curbing pollution from the sources that produce nearly 90 percent of the state's NOx. These sources include cars, heavy duty trucks, large off-road equipment, ships and locomotives.

The state's cleanup strategy includes:

• Clean-up of In-Use Heavy Duty Trucks. This critical regulation, to be presented to the Board in mid-2008, will modernize diesel trucks and reduce emissions by requiring replacement or cleanup of the dirtiest trucks on the road, and will also include a program for out-of-state trucks doing business in California.


• Targeting Goods Movement Sources. A myriad of measures take aim at reducing emissions from ships, trucks, harbor craft and other sources. In October, ARB will consider requiring owners of commercial harbor craft to either replace old engines with newer, cleaner versions or add control technologies to clean up exhaust.
  
  In December, ARB will consider a regulation to provide alternative power supplies at ports so that ship auxiliary engines can avoid using diesel power while at dock. Also on the December agenda is a measure requiring retrofit or replacement of older heavy-duty diesel trucks that service ports.


• Targeting Off-Road Sources. In July, the Board approved this measure which regulates construction and other industrial equipment, establishing fleet average emission limits and requiring older, dirtier engines to be replaced by current models or retrofitted with emission control devices. Agricultural equipment will also be modernized and cleaned up, with the Board expected to consider regulation in 2009.

The newly approved state implementation plan includes both rules that have been adopted already and rules that are proposed and scheduled for public input.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.