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Diesel engines must be regularly inspected. 

Release 09-42
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2009
	  	  	
Karen Caesar
916-322-2990
www.arb.ca.gov

Riverside County trucking companies fined $7,500 for emissions
violations

SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board fined Desert
Materials Transportation and Terra Trucking Company, both from
Banning, Calif., for a total of $7,500 during March 2009 for
diesel truck emissions violations.

An ARB investigation showed both companies failed to properly
inspect their diesel fleets, as required by California law.

"Many California companies are going beyond what is required,"
said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "When we find companies that
are ignoring clean air requirements it is only fair that they
should pay a penalty."

Annual smoke emissions tests are required for diesel truck
fleets, in conjunction with ARB's roadside smoke inspection
program; the law ensures that all vehicles are properly
maintained, tamper-free and free from excessive smoke emissions.

In addition to mandatory penalties, Desert Materials
Transportation and Terra Trucking Company are required to:

    * Guarantee employees responsible for conducting the
inspections attend a California community college training class
on diesel emissions compliance testing and provide certificates
of completion within one year;
    * Provide documentation to ARB that the inspections are
being carried out for the next four years;
    * Ensure all of the company's heavy-duty diesel trucks have
their software updated with the latest low-NOx (oxides of
nitrogen emissions) programming;
    * Instruct vehicle operators to comply with the state's
idling regulations; and,
    * Ensure that all diesel trucks are up to federal emissions
standards for the vehicle model year and are properly labeled
with an emission control label. 

Desert Materials Transportation will pay $2,750 in penalties to
the California Air Pollution Control Fund, and Terra Trucking
Company will pay $4,750. The California Air Pollution Control
Fund provides funding projects and research to improve
California's air quality.

Diesel exhaust contains a variety of harmful gases and over 40
other known cancer-causing compounds. In 1998, California
identified diesel particulate matter as a toxic air contaminant
based on its potential to cause cancer, premature death and other
health problems.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.

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