Comment Log Display

Dear Members of the California Air Resources Board:

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has adopted a damaging
and ill advised off-road diesel regulation this summer.  Engel &
Gray Inc. is a 62 year old company founded in 1946.  Never before
have we seen a regulatory agency that has taken our new worth and
capital that we have worked hard at for so many years only to have
it wiped out with the stroke of bureaucratic pens.   The hardship
that you will impose on our employees and families will be felt
for years as dollars are redirected from salaries and health
benefits to pay for limited clean air results.

As a second generation construction and recycling operator in
California these regulations will effect everyone in the state but
most importantly hard working class families.  Some of the effects
will be:
	1.	A profound, negative impact on California’s infrastructure
rebuilding efforts, as cost soar to pay the cost of the new
technologies.

	2.	The reduced benefits to working class families as the health
insurance payments are diverted to pay for new equipment.  Pension
contributions are shorted, Vision coverage is abandoned as cost are
diverted.

	3.	Loss of jobs as construction companies, especially the smaller
ones are forced out of business for the lack of capital that it
will take to meet you requirements.

Business, construction contractors and workers want these
regulations to work for everyone, however this rule lacks clarity,
does not take into account the availability of capital in the
industry or the advancement of engine technology.  A few examples
are:
	1.	The rule does not take into account fuel throughput of a
particular piece of equipment.  In cleaner language if you do not
run a piece of equipment it does not pollute!  So if you have
three pieces of equipment and they run 25-30% of the time they are
treated the same as a piece of equipment that runs 2000 hours a
year.

	2.	Now take the capital cost to replace the three pieces of
equipment and you are out of business.  Or lets just buy one and
truck it from job to job.  What is the air impact for the
increased transportation.

	3.	The regulation is too complex and lengthy: we are having a
hard time understanding it and its effect on our fleet.   Before
this regulation, we bought equipment based on what we needed to do
our work. We will have to hire consultants to tell us what we can
and must buy and when we will need to replace, retrofit, or
repower what we have.   

	4.	Capital-Intensive Industry: The value of our business is tied
up in our fleet of construction equipment.  To meet CARB’s
requirements for newer equipment, we will have sell existing
equipment. But you have lowered the value of this equipment so we
can not sell it.  This is like a retailer being forced to sell its
inventory or food but the food has been declared contaminated

	5.	Because newer equipment costs significantly greater than our
older equipment, CARB’s rule will force us to downsize our
operations, and limit our ability to perform on contracts.

	6.	When we made our purchasing decisions and other investments,
we relied on the standards that applied to us at the time. It is
unfair to require us to retrofit or replace equipment that was
legal when we bought it. With this rule CARB, for the first time,
is regulating the consumer of equipment rather than the
manufacturers.   

	7.	CARB has suggested that the cost of this regulation will be
passed on to our customers. This is unrealistic. Small contractors
will be forced out by larger well capitalized firms.

	8.	We are in the recycling business where we recycle organic
material and this rule will restrict us from expanding our
recycling efforts, which will increase land filling and greenhouse
gases.

I want to be clear Engel & Gray Inc. is very supportive of
reducing particulate matter (PM) and NOx emissions from diesel
engines. There is no disagreement that we need to work
collectively to improve the state’s air quality and all of us want
to provide as healthy an environment as possible for our employees
on our job sites, but we need to make sure we do it in away that
keeps the state moving forward and with consideration for both the
Environment, Jobs and the Economy. 

Sincerely, 

Robert Engel
Engel & Gray Inc. 
Since 1946
P.O. Box 5020
Santa Maria, Ca., 93456