Adv. Transportation Home Our Faculty ATTC In The News Contract Training
Alternative Fuels Electric Vehicles Emissions Control Quick-service Classes
BAR Update 2005 BAR Update 2007 CNG Cylinder Inspection
ATT Colleges SCRTTC Economic Workforce Development Program

News Quicklinks:

Advanced Transportation Technology in the NEWS

Air board cracks down on diesel

State regulators adopt tough rules requiring huge cutbacks in fumes from construction industry equipment. Next up: big trucks.

By Margot Roosevelt, Times Staff Writer - July 27, 2007

SACRAMENTO — California's diesel-powered bulldozers, scrapers and other heavy construction equipment must be retrofitted or replaced over the next 13 years to reduce the air pollution that sickens tens of thousands of residents every year, state regulators decided Thursday.

Under tough new rules adopted by the Air Resources Board, California is the first state to make construction companies fix existing diesel-powered machines. Heavy equipment can last 30 years or more, so without the new mandate, it would take decades for fleets to upgrade to cleaner equipment.

Although the fumes are most often associated with big trucks and buses, 20% of California's diesel pollution comes from the construction industry. Building, mining and airport vehicles are responsible for an estimated 1,100 premature deaths statewide every year and more than 1,000 hospitalizations for heart and lung disease, along with tens of thousands of asthma attacks, scientists say.

The air board's new rules will slash diesel soot — also known as particulate matter — from construction equipment by 92% over 2000 levels. Smog-forming nitrogen oxides will be cut by more than a third. And greenhouse gases, a byproduct of fuel burning, also will drop as a result of a ban on idling equipment.

"This is a very progressive rule with a lot of flexibility," said board Chairwoman Mary Nichols. "Beginning in 2010, we will be breathing far less of the smog and fine particulates that are so damaging to our health."

The building industry hotly contested the rule, saying it would cause job losses, increase highway construction costs and damage the state's economy. Michael Lewis, a lobbyist for the industry-led Coalition to Build a Cleaner California, said industry could not afford the retrofits. "And a regulation that is not achievable will not save one life," he said.

The new regulation signaled a comeback for the powerful board, whose reputation was damaged in the wake of the recent firing of its former chairman, Robert Sawyer, by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and allegations that the governor's staff had tried to weaken proposed pollution standards.

Nichols, an environmental lawyer appointed by Schwarzenegger to replace Sawyer, took an aggressive stance during Thursday's daylong board meeting, opposing an industry proposal to delay enforcement.

The diesel rule, the result of three years of debate, drew applause from environmental groups.

"This was a great debut by Chairwoman Nichols," said Kathryn Phillips, a lobbyist for Environmental Defense. "It shows that science and public health are still the main forces that drive the agency."

The rule, which air board staff say will cost the industry up to $3.4 billion, is one of the most expensive adopted by the board. As part of an aggressive diesel cleanup, the board has also adopted restrictions on garbage trucks, buses and ships. Next on the agenda: heavy-duty trucks, which could cost even more to clean up than construction equipment.

The building industry operates 180,000 pieces of diesel machinery statewide. It costs up to $40,000 to buy particulate filters for a single million-dollar scraper.

Overall, contractors contended, the cost of the rules could reach $13 billion and boost the price of homes, highways and commercial buildings.

The discrepancy in the estimates of the cost to industry caused the board to delay action in May to allow staff to evaluate new economic data. In the last two months, air board economists and individual board members held dozens of meetings with industry groups and examined the financial records of companies.

Industry figures were based on an exaggerated rate of equipment turnover, among other factors, staffers told the board.

On a vote of 6 to 3, with Nichols leading the opposition, the board defeated an effort by industry groups to extend the compliance schedule. It maintained annual reduction targets for soot, rather than moving enforcement to a three-year schedule, which staff said could cut health benefits by as much as 12%.

In addition to an overall state standard, the board adopted a provision that will allow Los Angeles and nearby counties, the San Joaquin Valley and other particularly polluted regions to accelerate the diesel equipment cleanup schedule in their districts. 

"It's a good day for clean air," said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Wallerstein said the region must achieve twice the amount of construction pollution cuts as the overall state goal in order to meet federal standards. The region, one of the dirtiest in the country, is under a strict mandate to improve its air by 2015. The AQMD will offer construction companies $120 million in incentives to purchase particulate filters or buy new machines.

To soften the economic hardship on mom-and-pop businesses, the new rule gives small fleets until 2015 to begin compliance, while large fleets must begin in 2010. \

LBCC's Cal Macy Recruited as Industry Expert to CSA

LONG BEACH, CA . – Long Beach City College's Cal Macy has been selected to join an international team challenged with redesigning the national certification program for Natural Gas Cylinder Inspection. The ATT Consortium of Colleges, through its affiliation with Canadian Standards Association of America (CSA-America), the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation (CVEF), and Alternative Fuel Vehicles recently met in Cleveland, Ohio utilizing Macy's expertise as the project director of Long Beach City College's prestigious Advanced Transportation Technology Center. “LBCC is earmarked as the west coast experts of cylinder safety experts,” Macy said, adding that the program is one of only five in the nation certified by the National Technical Education Foundation When completed, this model will be adopted nation-wide as the standard for training and certification in Advanced Transportation Technology (ATT), including the Cylinder Inspector's Exam, the actual inspection forms and other details regarding certification and training of cylinder inspectors and instructors. Compressed Natural Gas Cylinders, as used in CNG powered vehicles, must be inspected for damage every three years or 36,000 miles. However, there are more than 10,000 cylinders in use today on vehicles, with only a few hundred inspectors certified to perform the inspection. The CVEF received a national grant to drive the industry towards better compliance with certification of inspectors as a priority. With its affiliation to CSA and LBCC, work has begun to develop a more up-to-date program using many items created by LBCC and the ATT Colleges as a model for this training program. CVEF is providing scholarships for technicians to attend cylinder inspection training and obtain certification through the CSA exam. CVEF recently partnered with AFV and LBCC to provide Cylinder Safety Inspection training and certification to the Transit User's Group which was hosted by LA-MTA. 24 technicians and trainers from many different transit agencies attended the two day training and certification with Macy as the lead instructor. The technicians are trained in the requirements to understand and perform a detailed visual inspection of CNG cylinders including the classification of damage found and repair requirements. The text and PowerPoint used in this training was developed by Macy at LBCC in cooperation with Rio Hondo College for a contract with AQMD. Based upon concepts presented in that training, CVEF has formulated their plan to revise the overall program to better meet the needs of technicians in the CNG Industry. When completed, this model will be adopted nation-wide as the standard for training and certification. This effort is aimed at keeping CNG vehicles the safest vehicles on the road today through technician education and skills improvement leading to certification.

Advanced Transportation Techology's Outstanding Student

Prince Barrom(left) - 2007 Outstanding Student Cal Macy(right) - ATTC Project Director

May 4th, 2007 - Price Barron received the Outstanding Student Award from the Advanced Transportation Technology Center.

Non-Profit Training Consortium Receives $1.2 Million

LBCC Faculty recruited as technical expert to re-write international certification exam for ASE

Cal Macy, Project Director of the ATT Center at Long Beach City College was recruited to be part of the team of experts who re-wrote the ASE Technician Certification (F1) Exam for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicle diagnosis and repair. Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) is the internationally recognized testing service for technicians, parts and service personnel in the automotive industry. They are an industry-supported but independent testing organization solely committed to the task of qualifying personnel in both the knowledge and practical experience needed for the proper servicing of vehicles. ASE certification is the benchmark everyone uses to determine who is qualified and who is not. A team of 15 industry experts from the US and Canada was assembled to review the Compressed Natural Gas (F1) Technician Task List for the purpose of determining the areas of knowledge base and level of difficulty for this international certification exam. Cal Macy played an integral part of this process providing his technical expertise to the committee over a 4 day process and influencing the committee regarding the industry as it applies to the California technology base and market. This prestigious honor of being recognized as one of the experts in the field shows how the ATT Consortium is doing its part to support the Economic Development of California and the Advanced Transportation Technologies it represents.

LBCC Advanced Transportation Technology Center - Channel 7 NEWS

LBCC ATT Center participates in the International EVS 20

Eye on Long Beach (3.6 MB)

ATT Promotional Video (mov)

Advanced Transportation Technology Video (9.7 MB, DSL and Cable Only)

City Magazine: "French Fried Fuel Source"

ATTEi 4th Quarter Meeting - Avalon, CA