California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

PM2.5 Emissions Grows by 24% in a World Wide Recession -- Hmmm?

When I read about the forest fires in Washington started by a CARB required DPF last month and saw the thousand of tons of emissions (pollution) released from that fire, it occurred to me to look at the most recent EPA PM charts on their website. The most recent charts we had seen were from the 2005 period and appeared to be an average over three consecutive years. When I went to that site/link again recently, that chart was gone and an entirely new chart was there. Not only does the new chart not have the same general inventories, but it also reports that the amount of PM in the state has gone up by over 24%.

At first glance I thought, what? But 2006 was the peak of the building boom! 2007 was strong, but by 2008 the recession was in full downswing, and the economy, especially the construction economy, was in full decline. Yet CARB’s other rules and port rules were going into effect during this period and hundreds of thousands of newer trucks were all plying the roads here. Regardless, the emissions inventory skyrocketed during a recessionary period only exceeded by the Great Depression. Secondly, with construction down 50% and tens of thousands of new pieces of equipment plying construction sites, how can the inventory increase. Maybe because it is all a fraud?

This all seems very troubling but consistent with a public health political agenda that has become political science in this state and less outside the state.

Then, as I looked at how each category of emissions was affected during this period, that too had been changed so as to make it virtually impossible to compare one period to the other. Just more proof how corrupt this process has become.