Environment DEC
From the December 2008 issue
Aggressive Enforcement Strategy Targeting Truck/Bus Pollution in Urban Neighborhoods Goes Statewide
Expanding a clean air initiative statewide, DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis recently announced the launch of a long-term enforcement strategy to cut down on the health impacts associated with smoke-spewing diesel trucks and buses, especially in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution.
Surprise Inspections to Target "Hot Spots"
DEC enforcement will target areas where diesel trucks and buses idle for extended periods.
Under the plan, DEC will carry out regular but unannounced enforcement actions in "hot spots" where heavy truck and bus traffic enters or exits a neighborhood, as well as areas where diesel trucks and buses tend to congregate and idle their engines for prolonged periods. At heavy traffic hot spots, DEC will implement pullover operations that target trucks and buses churning out plumes of visible exhaust in violation of state air regulations. DEC will also conduct random enforcement against illegal idling in idling hot spots.
The initiative is based on a successful pilot program in New York City; Commissioner Grannis previously committed DEC to taking the program to environmental justice neighborhoods elsewhere in the state. DEC launched the initiative upstate, with pullover operations in Albany and Newburgh. In Albany, DEC conducted a pullover operation on South Pearl Street near a ramp for Interstate 787 in Albany's South End neighborhood and carried out mobile patrols in other city neighborhoods that are disproportionately impacted by pollution sources. The South End receives much of the truck traffic traveling to and from the Port of Albany.
Safeguarding Our Urban Neighborhoods
"Protecting the environment is not just about lakes and rivers and wilderness. It's about safeguarding our urban neighborhoods too," Commissioner Grannis said. "Excessive emissions from trucks and buses are a problem, especially in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution. That is why DEC is committed to dealing with this issue."
DEC officers perform an emissions check on a diesel truck."
We call this our Stop Smoking Initiative for Trucks," said DEC Regional Director Gene Kelly. "Just as cigarette smoke creates risks not only for smokers but also those around smokers, polluting trucks and buses put neighborhoods at risk. In addition, this initiative will help identify the dirtiest diesels on the road and influence them to clean up their act."
The initiative comes as a result of a successful 2007 city-state crackdown on truck and boiler pollution in East Harlem, a neighborhood with elevated asthma rates and heavy truck traffic. DEC law-enforcement officers pulled over and inspected 361 diesel trucks and issued 163 tickets for various violations of state air and safety regulations. The officers also issued 10 tickets for excessive idling. Based on that operation, DEC estimates that close to 20 percent of the trucks traveling East Harlem daily are out of compliance with state air regulations. That ratio was replicated in a second pullover operation in Harlem on Oct. 31, 2008.
Community Involvement is Key
DEC, together with community groups and local governments, intends to develop an outreach program to educate the trucking and bus industries and neighborhood groups about the serious consequences of heavy-duty diesel vehicle pollution and the laws that deal with it. A key feature of the program will involve empowering communities to identify heavy-duty vehicle idling hot spots in their neighborhoods.
