Take it back

A few important things were thrown away during the Great Budget Debacle in mid-February that should be retrieved at first opportunity. One example: a crucial anti-air-pollution law that was set to put reasonable controls on off-road diesel engines, a major source of air pollution in the state.

Adopted in 2007 by the California Air Resources Board, the new rules would have required construction companies to retrofit about 180,000 diesel vehicles (like tractors, road graders, forklifts, airport baggage trucks, scrapers) that now spew out lung-damaging soot particles into the atmosphere.

When the state’s Republican leaders took California hostage during the budget debates, the Democrats were forced to push back the date when these pollution controls would have gone into effect.

Dirty air emissions from these sources are estimated to cause more than 1,000 premature deaths and up to 30,000 asthma attacks a year. Now rules that would have reduced these emissions are postponed, all to provide a regulatory free pass to an industry that was already preparing to clean up its act.

Our health and the future of our environment should never have been bargaining chips during budget negotiations. Revisiting the subject won’t take a two-thirds majority, so we urge legislators to call a vote and put these needed regulations back on track sooner than later.