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ANTI-POLLUTION REGULATIONS * USA - Time trucking industry comes clean
Every year each person in the South Coast Air Basin pays $1,250, and $1,600 in the San Joaquin Valley to breathe bad air, according to researchers from Cal State Fullerton
San Bernardino,CAL,USA -The Sun, by Nidia Bautista (*) -18 Nov 2008: -- ... Staggering numbers quantifying the economic toll of air pollution were released last week reminding us that Californians pay a hefty price tag for breathing dirty air. Every year each person in the South Coast Air Basin pays $1,250, and $1,600 in the San Joaquin Valley to breathe bad air, according to researchers from Cal State Fullerton. A $28 billion combined price tag for poor air quality confirms that we not only pay for poor air with our lungs and lives, but we're pulling out our pocket books too... California has made tremendous progress toward improving air quality, but studies such as these sound the alarm bell warning us that we can no longer afford to hit the snooze button; we must wake up and take action to ensure future generations breathe cleaner air... Unfortunately, actions often stall when the polluters claim that regulations are too costly. Well, now we've got 28 billion more reasons to not procrastinate. The health and economic costs - in medical costs, lost work and premature death - of air pollution are a drain on our economy, and if left unaddressed will continue to plague us for decades... The ARB developed a proposed regulation that balances our needs to meet federal clean air commitments, protect public health and provide truckers with an adequate level of flexibility for compliance. The regulation ensures trucks operating in California are equipped with life-saving particulate filters by 2014 and have the cleanest available engines by 2023... Additionally, recognizing that a large percentage of trucks are owned by independent owner-operators, the state also provides small fleets (three or less trucks) with an extended compliance timeline... The proposed regulation is expected to yield life-saving results with a 43 percent reduction in diesel particulates and a 23 percent reduction in nitrogen oxides, a key component of smog. It would prevent about 9,400 premature deaths, and would result in 150,000 fewer asthma-related cases and 950,000 fewer lost work days over a 10-year period... (* )Nidia Bautista is the community engagement director at the Coalition for Clean Air based in Los Angeles.
Labels: anti-pollution
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