Allegheny County takes step in reducing deadly diesel exhaust
GASP Press Release
July 13, 2005: For Immediate Release
Contact: Rachel Filippini, Executive Director
Allegheny County takes step in reducing deadly diesel exhaust
Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) commends the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and the Allegheny County Council for their efforts in creating the Diesel Powered Motor Vehicle Idling regulation (Adobe Acrobat: 20 KB). Now enforceable throughout the county, this important, commonsense regulation will reduce people’s exposure to harmful diesel exhaust by limiting the idling time of trucks, Port Authority buses, tour buses, waste haulers, and other on-road diesel vehicles.
As of today, on-road diesel vehicles will not be permitted to unnecessarily idle for any more than five minutes, with some exemptions, including: if the outside temperature is less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit or above 75 degrees Fahrenheit, at which temperatures they may idle twenty minutes in an hour.
Citizens will play a critical role in helping to implement this new regulation, which will be enforced by the ACHD and individual municipalities. GASP encourages the public to report suspected violations to the proper authorities immediately, at 412-687-ACHD (2243).
While GASP thinks these idling regulations are a critical first step to reducing unnecessary diesel emissions in our county, they are only a first step and much more needs to be done if we are to significantly cut down on emissions. While school buses and on-road diesel vehicles will be prohibited from unnecessary idling, locomotives and marine diesel will still be allowed to idle. Marine diesel emissions represent a large proportion of total diesel emissions in the county and need to be controlled. Locomotive idling in switchyards throughout the county represent a major hotspot of pollution for certain communities.
“It is going to take a combination of strategies including advocating for aggressive on and off-road diesel fleet turnover, retrofitting diesel engines, better emission standards, and anti-idling programs to make a real difference in our region,” said GASP executive director, Rachel Filippini. “The good news is that many of these options are available now, clean-up can begin right away.”
According to the Clean Air Task Force, locally, diesel is responsible for 237 deaths, 340 heart attacks, and nearly 4,000 asthma attacks annually due to the fine particulates found in diesel exhaust. Diesel exhaust poses a cancer risk that is 7.5 times higher than the combined total cancer risk from all other air toxics and has been linked to a wide variety of serious health impacts.
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