With a 5-0 vote, the Redding City Council agreed Tuesday to confront the California Air Resources Board over looming diesel engine emission standards that opponents say will deal a crippling blow to the north state’s already fragile economy.
The vote authorized Mayor Rick Bosetti to write CARB and invoke Redding’s “coordination” authority. Coordination is a process that requires federal agencies (and state agencies that receive federal funding) to work with local governments before implementing policies or plans that impact the local community.
The coordination process was proposed at the council’s Oct. 15 meeting but a motion to proceed stalled on a 2-2 vote. Bosetti, who joined Councilwoman Francie Sullivan in voting no, said he wanted to wait and see what transpired at an Oct. 24 CARB meeting before taking a more confrontational tack.
The emission standards, which the state says will remove thousands of tons of diesel soot from California’s air and prevent some 3,900 premature deaths, will force hundreds of truck and bus operators to make costly retrofits to their vehicles or, in many cases, retire them.
Pat Cramer, an Anderson-based insurance agent who deals almost exclusively with trucks, said she has been dealing with CARB for six years and has come to the conclusion that “they want to get us out of business.”
As the emission requirements now stand, trucks made in 2006 and older—or 73 percent of the trucks she insures—will be off the road by Jan. 1, Cramer said.
Of particular concern to Councilman Gary Cadd are the $20,000 particulate matter filters required for all heavy trucks with engines manufactured in 2009 or older. The filters are too temperature sensitive to be of use in slow-moving construction vehicles and prone to overheating in trucks on the highway, Cadd said.
Betty Plowman, a truck driver from Vacaville with 24 years of experience and a north state representative for the California Construction Trucking Association, encouraged the council to pursue the coordination process, even while adding that a recent meeting with some of Gov. Jerry Brown’s staff indicated rural counties may receive an extra year to comply with the new standards.
CARB officials may discuss that possibility at a Dec. 5 hearing in Redding, Bosetti said.
Cadd said he would take the lead in researching and organizing the coordination process with help from a coordination committee that includes Sylvia Milligan and Greg Mann.
Councilwoman Missy McArthur said she would join the rest of the council in supporting the coordination effort but expressed concern over the timing of the vote, noting the Dec. 5 hearing in Redding. “I don’t want to necessarily irritate these people,” she said, a comment that elicited some jeers from the audience.
“This is not a slap in the face or a poke in the eye,” Councilman Patrick Jones said. “It’s giving our citizens a place at the table.”
Jon Lewis is a freelance writer living in Redding. He has more than 30 years experience writing for newspapers and magazines. Contact him at jonpaullewis@gmail.com.
