Dec. 5, 2009
If you happen to be in Sacramento on Wednesday, you might want to drop by the California Air Resources Board meeting to watch the fireworks.
Ok, ok, ok, it’s a government meeting, so fireworks might be a stretch.
Two board members have now stated publicly that they want the board to suspend the new diesel regulations that were to go into effect over the next few years requiring heavy trucks to retrofit with prohibitively expensive filtration devices to reduce PM2.5 emissions.
PM2.5 is tiny bits of soot in diesel emissions that CARB has deemed deadly per a report by CARB researcher Hien Tran that was used to justify the new regs.
Therein lies (part of) the problem.
Tran lied about having a PhD.
The other part of the problem, I say, is the crappy way Tran put the report together, discounting opposing studies that found no link between premature deaths and PM2.5 (especially in California) and averaging results of other studies and applying them across the state — among other slap dashery.
His lie was discovered by a number of CARB muckety-mucks, as well as the Chair of the Board, Mary Nichols, and at least one other board member, John Balmes, prior to the December 2008 vote on the regulations.
But that information was kept from the full board.
It wasn’t until September that board members got an earful from citizens about the Tran report.
That riled board member John Telles, a Fresno cardiologist, who threw down the gauntlet last month saying while the science in the report is solid (I disagree), CARB’s credibility is now in question.
He wants to suspend the rule and redo the report.
Now board member Ron Roberts has joined Telles, writing in the San Diego Union Tribune on Friday that the retrofit requirements will cost California trucking businesses $4.5 billion between 2010 and 2030.
“Imposing such expensive and groundbreaking regulation requires securing the full faith and confidence of the public. Unfortunately, actions by air board members and staff have shaken that trust.”
Balmes and Nichols have already said they think the rule should stand.
They’ve both said Tran’s report was incidental to their votes, that they “knew” the science supported the regulations.
Well, heck, if the science is so infallible, redoing the report should produce the same result, right?
Unless, of course, a redo would include an honest look at all the science, including those that find no link to PM2.5 and premature deaths.
And perhaps, not including studies in which the authors have refused to open their raw data to independent examination — which, by the way, would eliminate the main studies Tran used in his report.
Back to the boardroom showdown.
So far, it’s two against two.
There are 11 members total. So all Telles and Roberts need are four more level heads who care about good science and good government.
Given what we’ve seen so far from CARB, that seems like a big number.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
CONTACT THE BOARD!!!
Should they suspend the truck rule and redo the PM2.5 report?
Tell them at:
arbboard@arb.ca.gov
Or contact the board’s ombudsman at:
ombudsman@arb.ca.gov or (916) 323-6791
You can learn more about the ombudsman, which bypasses CARB senior staff and has direct access to board members at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/ba/om...
You can also go to CARB’s site and comment directly to the “records” of the Board meeting here:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/lispu...
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday
You can view it online here:
http://www.cal-span.org/
0 comments:
Post a Comment