On The Money: Diesel Filter Recall
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The hard-hit construction industry is taking aim at a California government agency. Critics say the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved equipment now suspected of causing a major forest fire.
Under CARB's regulations, all on-road trucks having a gross vehicle weight rating over 33,000 pounds (Class 8 trucks) with model year engines between 1996 and 2006 are required to phase in new diesel particulate filters between 2012 and 2016. But one of the California- approved high-tech filters is now suspected of starting the so-called Monastery Fire in the state of Washington.
More than four thousand acres went up in smoke near Goldendale, Washington last monthand investigators suspect the fire was started by a diesel truck that sent sparks from the filter into the dry grass, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes.
"We now have technology and all it does it set forest fires," stated Hank De Carbonel of the California Concrete Pumpers Alliance. The group is fighting the new state regulations.
"In our case we're talking about a real risk of life and limb because of their mandates when they know nothing about their industry that they're trying to regulate," noted De Carbonel.
Many diesel operators in California are up in arms over the state mandate to retrofit their vehicles with a particulate filter – a filter that state regulators now admit "may experience a catastrophic failure."
Critics say that failure sparked the fire in Washington, prompting the California Air Resources Board to immediately issue a recall of two filters made by a Bay Area company.
"We think this was unforeseeable," stated Erik White, an Assistant chief with CARB's Mobile Source Control Division.
"The cause of the fire is still under investigation and we're certainly tracking that," White told CBS 13. He added, "The incident in Washington, this particular technology represents a very small percentage of the tens of thousands of devices that have been installed throughout the state. We have a very strong track record that the program is successful - the technology works."
But critics within the construction industry are not convinced. They say the diesel filters have been problematic from the beginning – and they wonder why the Air Resources Board certified them in the first place.
"They've been out here 15, 18 times to do repairs on it," one diesel truck operator told CBS 13. He asked to remain anonymous, saying he feared retaliation from state regulators. "It's a defective unit," he told CBS 13.
That's his opinion of course, but the manufacturer, Cleaire, a San Leandro firm that makes the Longmile and Allmetal diesel filters, is paying for the recall.
The Air Resources Board told CBS 13 no one could have predicted the Cleaire filters might cause a forest fire. "We had about 4000 hours of data on this system in the field that had shown no indications that something like this might happen," Erik White stated.
The filters are expensive, costing more than $20,000. CARB paid for 45 filters using public funds – but most diesel truck operators have paid with their own money – and some truckers say the filters cost more than their trucks are worth.
"There's hundreds of guys just like me that provide services for people in their own communities and we're all being put out of business because of this regulation," stated Robert McClernon, president of the California Dump Truck Owners Association.
But the regulation remains in effect – despite the recall – because the Air Resources Board has approved fifteen other filters from different companies. In a statement to CBS 13, CARB spokeswoman Karen Caesar said, "These other systems have been used to successfully retrofit tens of thousands of California vehicles without incident, and are currently used by all major engine manufacturers nationwide in hundreds of thousands of new engines produced since 2007."
Caesar added, "Fleets with engines affected by the recall have until January 31, 2012 to either wait until Cleaire upgrades their product to address the safety issue, or to install one of the other 15 verified systems."
Meanwhile, investigators are trying to determine what went wrong with the filters made by Cleaire.
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