Construction companies last week got a reprieve,but no escape,from new sweeping environmental regulation.
Last week, state air regulators pushed back a vote on adopting a rule that would require construction companies to spend millions of dollars to buy less-polluting bulldozers and backhoes or retrofit their existing equipment.
The California Air Resources Board was expected to adopt the rule on Friday in San Diego. Now the board is set to consider it at a July 27 meeting in Sacramento. Regulators still plan to hold a hearing in San Diego on Friday.
The construction industry has mounted an all-out campaign to block,or at least delay,the rule, recently forming the Coalition to Build a Cleaner California.
“The California Air Resources Board has proposed off-road diesel regulations that will cost you millions of dollars and require you to retrofit, repower or replace your bulldozers, backhoes and other heavy-duty off-road equipment over a very short period of time with newer engines,some that aren’t even available today,” coalition coordinator Mike Lewis said in his message to construction businesses on the group’s Web site.
The new regulation comes on the heels of concrete and steel prices that have surged in recent years and raised the cost of construction projects.
The air board’s proposed regulations would require an 85% cut in diesel emissions by 2020 from off-road vehicles used for industrial purposes, chiefly construction and mining. In a report, the agency said the rule would impact an estimated 8,000 off-road vehicle fleets in a wide array of industries, from construction to mining to ski resorts. The vast majority of fleets are in the construction sector.
The agency projects the regulation would cut emissions of nitrogen oxides by 48 tons per day and eliminate another 5 tons per day of microscopic particulates. Nitrogen oxides are a key component of smog, while particulates can harm the lungs.
“The easiest way for small and midsize construction firms to comply would be to shrink the size of their fleets, which means fewer employees and smaller jobs,” Lewis said.
Environmental groups are lobbying for passage of the rule and have blasted the construction industry for its opposition.
For more information on the regulation, go to arb.ca.gov. To find out more about the construction industry coalition, log on to ciaqc.com.
Forklift Regulation
A similar Air Resources Board regulation went into effect earlier this month. This one targets forklifts, other off-road industrial equipment (such as ground equipment at airports, irrigation pumps and sweepers) as well as consumer off-road vehicles.
Like the construction equipment rule, owners and operators of these vehicles must upgrade their engines or trade in their older vehicles and equipment for newer ones. An industry outcry last year forced the agency to postpone the rule. It eventually passed last summer. For more information, log on to arb.ca.gov.
Another Big Air Battle
Battle lines already are being drawn as the state takes the first steps to implement AB 32, the landmark greenhouse gas reduction bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Air Resources Board listed three actions this month that the agency could adopt by July 1:
n Passing a low-carbon fuel standard.
n Mandating reductions of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants from vehicle air conditioners.
n Requiring all landfill operators to boost their methane capture systems.
Dozens of other proposed regulations,ranging from limiting hydrofluorocarbons from foam manufacturing to requiring the replacement of diesel engines with electric ones at construction sites,also could be enacted by 2010.
The moves have generated concern from a coalition of some two dozen industry groups, led by the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Manufacturers & Technology Association. The coalition has voiced concerns about higher costs and the impacts on energy supplies.
In particular, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Western States Petroleum Association, which represents refinery operators, may file a legal challenge to any low-carbon fuel standard.
One industry did not show up on the early action list: cement makers, which generate carbon emissions as part of their manufacturing process.
But the reprieve for cement makers may only be temporary: The air board is proposing to turn the duty of regulating them over to the state Business Transportation and Housing agency.
Excavation Regulations
The construction industry is in the cross-hairs of another state agency. The state Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has proposed added safety rules for site excavations. They would require construction contractors to do rigorous checks of existing underground utility lines and fuel pipes on the site before digging.
The regulations are in response to last year’s passage of Senate Bill 1359. The legislation was prompted by a 2004 incident in Walnut Creek, in which construction workers punctured a high-pressure petroleum pipeline, causing an explosion that killed five.
The Cal-OSHA investigation found that one of the principal causes of the accident was the failure to determine the precise location of the pipeline beforehand.
Under the new rules, contractors preparing to excavate or dig trenches on a site must first contact the owners or operators of all underground sewer, telephone, fuel, electric and water lines and obtain exact details on the location of those lines. Additional steps, including an on-site meeting, must be taken in dealing with high-pressure fuel lines and high-voltage power lines.
The regulations are being welcomed by the Engineering and Utility Contractors Association. The group had lobbied to insert provisions in the bill requiring underground line owners and operators to compensate the excavation contractor in the event of an accident involving an improperly marked line.
Fine is a staff writer with the Los Angeles Business Journal.
