by US correspondent Roger Renstrom
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has made a second attempt to adopt emission standards for off-road large spark ignition (LSI) engines, including those powering forklifts.

Exempting small fleet operators' equipment is a big change from last year's proposal.

In December, Sacramento-based CARB discontinued efforts to proceed with earlier proposals after numerous delays bogged the process. The state's Administrative Procedures Act requires implementation of changes within one year of a rule change's introduction (Forkliftaction.com News #239).

The agency is now accepting feedback on the revised proposals before a May 25-May 26 hearing in Sacramento. The CARB board will meet to consider adopting new emission standards, fleet requirements and testing procedures for forklifts and other industrial equipment.

All aspects of the rulemaking would result in standards mandating lower emissions from forklift engines. Tom Evashenk, air resources engineer in CARB's mobile source control division, said:
"The fact that the proposal does not grandfather in all existing equipment is a concern" for some in the industry.

The new proposal eliminated requirements that any small fleet of three or fewer forklifts meet any standard, Evashenk said. It differed from the broader inclusiveness CARB contemplated in mid-2005. "The exemption for small fleets should provide an opportunity for forklift dealers to place their inventory of equipment with small operators." Evashenk said operators of small fleets oversaw more than half the forklifts in use in California.

Referring to the small-fleet exemption, Clarklift-West Inc president Joe Hensler said:
"We were able to obtain that important concession from CARB but are still negotiating so the impact on forklift dealers and their customers is not so dramatic.

"We still wonder why CARB allowed forklift manufacturers 30 years for compliance since the low-emission technology was available to mandate low-emission forklifts, yet CARB is now allowing as few as five years for a user to make forklifts compliant."

Evashenk said CARB's job was not easy.

"We are in a tough situation trying to get end-user reductions. The dynamics change once you start asking people who own equipment to make changes."

He said non-compliant equipment operators may upgrade to newer technology or adopt retrofits from suppliers like Engine Control Systems (ECS), of Ontario, Canada.

ECS offers a TermiNOx closed-loop system for four-cylinder LPG forklift and truck engines and, separately, active and Combifilter systems for diesel forklift engines. CARB verified acceptability of the TermiNOx system in December and the ECS filtration devices earlier. Private equity firm CapitalWorks LLC acquired ECS from Lubrizol Corp on January 1. While terms were not disclosed, Lubrizol said ECS had 2005 sales of about USD24 million.

In developing the new proposal, Evashenk said CARB worked with stakeholder groups, including the Far West Equipment Dealers' Association, of Dixon, California.