OTA Welcomes Drive Clean
Change That Ends Unnecessary Testing of Newer Commercial
Vehicles
Model year exemption for heavy trucks extended by
an additional two years
(TORONTO, Nov. 18, 2005) -- At the Ontario Trucking
Association annual convention today, the province’s Minister of the Environment
Laurel Broten announced a first-round of much needed changes to the heavy duty
Drive Clean emissions testing program. The changes are part of the mandatory
review promised when the program was first introduced seven years ago. Further
changes are possible in 2006.
But for now the Ontario Trucking Association, which
for years has been arguing that it was costly and pointless to require newer
trucks to undergo annual or bi-annual testing, is pleased the MOE has decided to
extend the model year exemption from the mandatory periodic tests by an
additional two years. In other words, trucks that are four years old or newer
will be exempt from Drive Clean testing.
David Bradley, president of OTA welcomed the announced
changes: "It takes some courage to stand up and say that an environmental
program is not working effectively and needs fixing. The MOE is responding
appropriately to the fact that the average pass rate for heavy trucks five years
or newer is 98% -- even with the toughest opacity test in North America. Current
vintage trucks are much cleaner than they were even just ten years ago. We
estimate that the changes announced today will save the trucking industry about
$5 million a year in costs. But, as importantly, it recognizes the strides being
made by the trucking industry in developing and introducing clean technology.
The Drive Clean program was developed at a time when the technology was much
different and maintenance practices less sophisticated. The move to extend the
exemption for newer vehicles by an additional two years makes imminent
sense."
By next year, the new generation of smog-free trucks
will come on the market and the Drive Clean program will need to take account of
this new reality, said Bradley: "We will be suggesting further refinements to
the program during the next round of consultations, for example to see if the
testing exemption for the new smog-free engines can be stretched further."
Bradley added OTA will be looking to finally resolve
the current competitive gap that exists between Ontario-based vehicles which
must undergo periodic testing and out-of-province vehicles which don’t: "This
has never made much sense to us from either a competitiveness or an
environmental point of view," he said. "On any given day 30% of all the heavy
trucks operating on Ontario highways are from outside of Ontario. There are
buses and trucks that are based in Ontario, but plated somewhere else that are
exempt from the program.”
The change will appeal to small independent trucking
operators. Dale Holman of Georgetown, Ont. owns five of his own trucks: "With
fuel, insurance and other costs on the rise, I cannot afford to take my trucks
out of service and then pay for a test when I know they are going to pass with
flying colours. It’s about time this change was made."
Northern Ontario carriers are particularly impacted by
Drive Clean. Light duty vehicles in the North are exempt from Drive Clean and
there are far fewer testing facilities, often great distances away. Gord Grant
is president of Grant’s Transport, a family-owned and operated business in New
Liskeard. He said the changes "...are a good start. It makes no sense to test
clean trucks."
Although there might be some push-back from some of
the private testing facilities who fear a loss in business levels, the
association points out that rates charged to test trucks were not capped as they
were for cars, but were set by the market, from the very beginning. Said
Bradley: "Anyone who operated a testing facility for the last seven years was
able to do so charging whatever the market would bear. They also knew the
program would come under review after seven years. If they have not gotten a
return on their initial investment by now, then perhaps they did not make the
right business decisions. A business’s survival should not be predicated on
needless, outmoded regulations."
- 30 -
Media Contact: Rebecka Torn, Manager of
Communications (416) 249-7401 x 224
© 1995 -
2008, Ontario Trucking Association
555 Dixon Road, Toronto, Ontario
M9W
1H8
Tel: (416) 249-7401 | Fax: (416) 245-6152
Email:
info@ontruck.org