NEWS » February 4, 2010
EPA's moving the goal posts...again!

Today, SCCA had the honor of being the sole representative of the construction industry at an air quality public hearing in Sacramento held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The topic was "Reconsideration of the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone."  This means EPA is moving the goal posts on ozone regulation just two years after it tightened the standards last.

This is standard practice for the regulatory agencies – once they have the ball moving, they keep it moving and when they get close to their announced goal, they announce a new one. The room was crowded – 20 representatives from the Sierra Club, a dozen from the American Lung Association, and singles and pairs from every other environmental group you can imagine. This is important to our industry because the new standard will cause 96 percent of the counties in the country to fail to meet the new goal, requiring reductions in business activity, transportation and denial of funding for new highway projects. –William Davis, Executive Vice President, SCCA

NEWS » January 29, 2010
CARB Approves Limited One-Year Extension for Tier 0 Portable Engines

At the CARB January 28, 2010 hearing, the Board approved the staff recommendation to allow for continued use of certain non-certified Tier 0 engines one more year. The amendments also reduce recordkeeping and reporting requirements for certified portable engines and make additional modifications to the Portable Equipment Registration Program (PERP), the Portable Engine Air Toxic Control Measure (ATCM) and changes to the Off-Road Regulation to include dual-engine water well drilling rigs, as was previously done for two-engines cranes.

Amendments allow companies to choose a diesel engine of any size or up to five diesel engines not to exceed a combined total of 500 bhp to operate until December 31, 2010. These engines have to be currently registered in PERP or permitted by a local air district.

At the hearing, CIAQC argued that the one-year extension should not be limited to small fleets (those with 25 portable engines or less) and the requirement for rental companies to log on a monthly basis the location of engines out on rent is an unnecessary burden. CARB agreed and directed staff to make appropriate changes through the 15-Day Notice process. When the forthcoming 15-Day Notice is issued, CIAQC and others will have the opportunity to comment on the new language. To help accomplish the changes for the monthly rental engine location requirements, CARB directed staff to work with the local air districts on how best to address this moving forward.

NEWS » January 28, 2010
CARB to approve PERP Changes Today

The California Air Resources Board (CARB)is expected to approve changes to the Portable Engine Registration Program (PERP) that will breathe life into Tier 0 machines for another year. The law says any portable machine (generators, pumps, welders, etc.) powered by a Tier 0 engine (pre-1996 in most cases) was to be turned off forever January 1, 2010.

There are at least 4,300 registered in the program and no one knows how many are operating outside the law. CARB will be asked to give a one-year extension during the public hearing today in Sacramento.

While we always support any constructive change in the regulations from this agency, once again the CARB staff has unnecessarily complicated the issue. Their proposal is to let only "small" fleets (25 or fewer portable machines) take advantage of the extra time...and only five machines per company up to a combined 500 horsepower.

SCCA will propose the extension be applied to all registered machines in all fleets regardless of size. This business of picking winners and losers is a hallmark of CARB policy decisions – and one that consistently makes thing more complicated than necessary.
There will be more news coming from the meeting today when CARB Counsel Ellen Peter makes her report to the group on the proposals from industry to standardize CARB penalties and enforcement practices.

We don't expect this to be the last word from the agency on this...but they are moving in the right direction, thanks to the work of CERT and our friends in the media. –William Davis, Executive Vice President, SCCA