State's gift to business: Pricey new regulations

VICTORVILLE • The black smoke splurting out of diesel engines is marked for a clean-up —  costly new state  regulations that business owners say will be passed on.

The California Air Resources Board is requiring that diesel engines be retrofitted with new emission control systems beginning in early 2010. All diesel trucks, buses, trailers, and transport refrigeration units, including those based out of state, are required to take steps to reduce air pollution by installing cleaner burning equipment or replace the vehicles with new units.

Ron Walker, maintenance supervisor with Cooley Construction in Hesperia, said his company has about 65 pieces of equipment and it will cost approximately $20,000 each to retrofit them.

“We’ll spend about $1.3 million to come into compliance,” he said.

Walker said he  understand’s the goal, but he questioned the wisdom of enforcing it now in such a sluggish economy. Walker said it could cause a lot of smaller companies to go out of business.

To read the full story, see Tuesday's edition of the Daily Press. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755 or click here.

For more information about the new CARB regulations and to apply for funding visit arb.ca.gov.

Patrick Thatcher may be reached at 951-6227 or at pthatcher@VVDailyPress.com.