Perkins: New diesel engine rules could cripple agriculture
Clean air is goal, but at what cost?
Mar 31, 2008, Salinas Californian
Farmers, like most other Californians, are concerned about the economy, but they've got one more item to worry them: diesel regulations. New diesel rules are going to swamp California farmers with unbearable costs.
California's Air Resources Board has been developing a labyrinth of oppressive regulations for diesel engines that has snared some parts of our economy and now is about to engulf trucking and agriculture. As now proposed, these rules would cost billions of dollars and put many truckers and farmers out of business.
It's a double-hit on agriculture. Farmers not only use diesel trucks and engines on farms, they depend on over-the-road trucks to bring farm supplies and to deliver farm commodities to processors, customers and ports. There's no extra money in our farm economy right now to pay these added costs.
Regional air quality drives most regulation, but diesel is different. Back in 1998 California identified diesel emissions as a carcinogen. Now even areas with clean air, like Monterey County, are being regulated to reduce diesel emissions. Interesting exemptions While the regulations will apply to both mobile and stationary engines, the exemptions are interesting. Motor homes aren't included, to keep recreational vehicle owners out of the fight. School buses have their own rules, which simply limit the time buses can sit with their engines idling, thereby avoiding overwhelming cost to school districts to replace bus engines.
Huge costs will be imposed on trucks and farm tractors that are going to have to meet stringent - and expensive - new requirements. So far the rules haven't extended to stationary engines used on farms for jobs such as pumping water. But farmers are required to register their engines with CARB, and they expect to see more regulations in the future.
The rules give truckers and farmers two choices: replace their trucks, tractors or engines, or else retrofit existing engines with new pollution control devices.
The price tag is staggering. A retrofit can cost $15,000 to $35,000 per engine. Replacement vehicles can vary, with costs ranging from $50,000 to $300,000. Cautious estimates put statewide truck costs at $25 billion to $50 billion.
Farmers really suffer under these rules. Unlike over-the-road trucks that put on a lot of miles and get replaced at intervals, farm trucks are used less and kept in service much longer. The average model year of farm trucks in California is 1987. The new rules will prohibit use of engines older than 1994. Rules may be revised again Worse, proposed rules project standards for engines that can't yet be met and could require farmers to replace engines not once but twice in the next decade.
It's estimated the rules would affect 400,000 trucks registered in California. CARB also expects its California rules to apply to another 1.2 million out-of-state trucks that operate here. It's hard to imagine how California will force incoming trucks to meet the state's expensive new standards. If the rule doesn't apply to out-of-state trucks, you can expect all in-state trucking businesses to leave California.
Old trucks, tractors and engines will have little value. CARB is already blocking resales by asking online advertisers such as eBay and Craig's List to warn buyers before they buy used engines that don't meet California standards.
Farmers and truckers oppose the diesel rules and expect CARB to revise them. It leaves the question of whether CARB genuinely intends to cripple agriculture and trucking - at a time when the economy is already teetering - or whether this is just a negotiating position. Either way, it's a frightening prospect for agriculture.
