Clean Air Rule May Become Optional
Six years ago, California air regulators concluded that they had caught engine manufacturers cheating. Computer chips controlling engines in tens of thousands of trucks, buses and motor homes made them run differently during government testing than under actual road conditions -- resulting in significantly more air pollution.
Under a 1998 deal with state and federal regulators, engine makers were supposed to remove the deceptive chips. But they remain in place, and now California air officials are on the verge of agreeing to their being phased out voluntarily.
The possibility has outraged environmentalists, but air officials fear that, if they do otherwise, engine makers will sue the state, and none of the chips will be replaced for years while the dispute is fought out in court.
“It is a big leap of faith to trust these manufacturers to comply with a voluntary measure when they have cheated in the past,” said Diane Bailey, an air pollution expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We are scraping the bottom of the barrel to reduce air pollution, doing all kinds of things, and here we have tons of pollution that we are doing nothing about that never should have been allowed. That is the most frustrating thing about all of this.”
The discovery by state and federal regulators that computer chips made truck engines perform differently during certification tests than on roads and highways was made in the late 1990s. The chips were in roughly 1.3 million trucks, buses and motor homes. Government officials determined that the heavy-duty diesel vehicles were releasing about 1.3 million more tons of smog-forming gases nationally than the chips were suggesting -- the equivalent of emissions from 65 million extra cars.
In California, the computer chips are allowing as much as 49 additional tons of nitrogen oxides to enter the atmosphere every day, state air officials estimate. Nitrogen oxides help cause acid rain and form ozone, the main ingredient in smog.
Under the 1998 settlements with state and federal regulators, who accused seven engine makers of deceiving them, the manufacturers agreed to fix the problem for free when truckers and other owners brought their aging vehicles in to be rebuilt.
The firms were also fined $1 billion, making it the largest clean-air settlement in history. They admitted no wrongdoing.
“It’s time for the diesel engine industry to clean up its act and clean up our air,” former Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said when the settlement was announced.
However, California regulators later discovered that the chips were not being repaired as expected because truckers were not rebuilding their engines as fast as anticipated. The engines, which used to be rebuilt at 300,000 miles to 400,000 miles, last as long as 1 million miles because of technological improvements. Fewer than 10% of the trucks and buses had the chips fixed as of last year, officials estimated.
In response, the California Air Resources Board proposed a new rule last year to require owners of trucks with the faulty computer chips to be fixed through a process known as a “chip reflash,” which essentially consists of upgrading the software. It costs about $50 per truck and takes less than 30 minutes. In a cost-benefit analysis, the air regulators concluded that the regulation would be one of the state’s most cost-effective measures for reducing air pollution in years.
But engine companies balked and threatened to sue the state, arguing that such a rule would violate the prior settlements.
“From our perspective, the air board was trying to renegotiate the agreement,” said Jed Mandel, president of the Engine Manufacturers Assn., a lobbying group.
As a result, air board officials are proposing a voluntary rule that they hope will lead to the repair of 35% of the chips by December. It would not cover several thousand buses and trucks registered in other states that come into California, though it would apply to roughly 80% of the estimated 100,000 heavy-duty diesel vehicles based in California that have the faulty chips. If engine manufacturers do not meet the 35% goal, the state should pursue mandatory regulations, the officials propose. The board is expected to approve the plan today.
“We think this makes sense,” Mandel said. “Under this voluntary program, the reflashes can start now, and the manufacturers have agreed to pay for them, which is a major concession. It is not something we have to do.”
Asked why state regulators expect the industry to voluntarily clean up its act, air board spokesman Jerry Martin replied: “That is a legitimate question. But we are adopting a regulation that makes clear we will force them to do this in the very near future if they don’t start to comply voluntarily.”
Stephanie Williams, vice president of the California Trucking Assn., said the group would fully participate in the voluntary plan, and even planned a marketing campaign -- centered on a “flasher truck” comic figure -- to get truckers to fix the chips. Truckers, she argued, will take advantage of the opportunity, so long as engine companies pay the bill, not them.
“We bought these engines, thinking they were legal, and then came to find out they were not,” she said. “Our concern has been that if this went to court, we’d get stuck paying for this.”
