Groups Air Concerns Over Diesel-Fueled Generators

As state air officials prepare to create emissions standards for small-power generators for use at homes and businesses, a coalition of activists warned Monday that current reliance on diesel for those generators is a threat to public health.

“Diesel is the most common fuel used” in those generators, said Bonnie Foote of the Coalition for Clean Air at a news conference at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. “It’s also the most deadly.”

During the state’s energy crises, manufacturers of diesel generators touted their machines as a means for homeowners and businesses to ensure their power supply.

Groups including Foote’s, CalPIRG, the American Lung Assn. of California and the Sierra Club released a report highlighting the benefits of other types of localized power generators, including wind and solar power.

They spoke in front of a wall of solar panels that creates 20 kilowatts of power, as much as 10% of the Discovery Science Center’s annual energy needs.

About 26,000 diesel generators are used by California homes and businesses; of those, about 1,400 the primary power source. The rest are for backup or portable power.

Diesel emits more pollutants than other power sources, including carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds. Exposure to emissions can create headaches, asthma, lung cancer and other health problems.

The health risks are not limited to users. Living next to a diesel generator that is used 10 days of the year equals a 50% increased lifetime cancer risk, Foote said.

Industry officials voiced outrage at the environmentalists’ characterization of diesel and its health risks, saying they ignore technological improvements that have cleaned emissions in recent years, as well as the importance of diesel in times of crisis.

“It sounds to me like they’re trying to manufacture a crisis to fulfill some kind of organizational campaign or policy agenda,” said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, which is based in Washington, D.C.

The Legislature has directed the California Air Resources Board to adopt uniform emissions for localized power generators, as well as a certification program for the generators.

But the standards will not include backup or portable diesel generators--a fatal flaw, according to environmentalists.

Dan Jacobson, a CalPIRG legislative advocate in Sacramento, said he worries that people who bought generators because of Y2K and blackout worries may turn to using them as a cost-effective way to generate power and stay off the state’s grid.

But Schaeffer said such worries are baseless.

“That’s an unfounded fear. I don’t think that slippery slope exists,” he said. If it did occur, “economics would balance the situation in a big-time hurry.”