Environmental Protection Agency is considers expanding pilot program to Imperial County
By: North County Times wire services | ∞
SAN DIEGO -- The Environmental Protection Agency is considering expanding to Imperial County a San Diego County pilot program in which old Mexican big rigs are fitted with pollution-control devices, it was reported Thursday.
At no cost to the truck's owners, the devices are being installed on the vehicles one truck at a time to cut by up to 50 percent the smog-forming particles the big rigs spew, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The EPA is considering whether to expand the project to Imperial County and elsewhere along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, which trucks cross by the millions each year, the newspaper reported.
"We hope the (retrofit) concept catches on and other parties, such as the maquiladoras, expand the program to additional border-crossing trucks," Robert Reider, planning manager for the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District told the newspaper.
"That said, it may take another round of EPA funding to continue watering the seed."
Since July, local air officials have worked with Mexican trucking companies to replace their big rigs' mufflers with pollution-scrubbing devices called diesel oxidation catalysts. Each catalyst takes a few hours to install and costs roughly $3,500. It is virtually maintenance-free, according to the newspaper.
The device reduces diesel particulates by at least 25 percent and hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide by 40 percent to 50 percent, the newspaper reported.
The county air district said Mexican truckers have volunteered 25 trucks for the pilot program, and an additional 25 retrofits are anticipated in coming months, according to the newspaper.
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