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Boston to reduce emissions from diesel vehicles used by the City and its contractors

9 April 2015

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced his support for the “Diesel and Vehicular Emissions Ordinance,” filed by City Councilor Stephen Murphy to reduce emissions from in-use diesel vehicles and idling. The proposed ordinance requires all pre-2007 vehicles owned or leased by the City or used by its contractors to have been retrofit with emission control equipment. It also simplifies and unifies the authority for the City of Boston to enforce the current state-wide anti-idling laws in a consistent way.

All model year (MY) 2007 and later heavy-duty diesel engines are equipped with diesel particulate filters (DPF) to comply with the US EPA emission standards.

“The asthma rate in Boston’s neighborhoods continues to climb," said Councilor Murphy. "By further tightening air quality standards, as this ordinance does, we will make Boston’s neighborhoods healthier."

Most of diesel school buses in Boston are already later model years, or MY 2006 and earlier retrofit with emission controls of the highest feasible level of emission reduction. The rest of the City’s diesel fleet includes about 328 diesel units, not including emergency vehicles, and about 153 of them are pre-2007. For several years, the Public Works Department has been installing diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC)—which reduce PM emissions by 20%, according to the City—on diesel units as they need muffler replacements.

The proposed Ordinance would generally require all pre-2007 City-owned or operated vehicles to have equipment, such as DOCs, that reduces diesel emissions by at least 20% by the end of 2015. There are exceptions for emergency vehicles, snow removal equipment, and equipment rarely used.

Requirements for diesel vehicles and equipment used on new City contracts over $2 million would phase in over three years to eventually require DPF retrofits:

  1. Fiscal Year 2016: Half of the pre-2007 diesel vehicles and equipment used for the contract would be required to have retrofits achieving at least 20% reduction of PM emissions.
  2. Fiscal Year 2017: All pre-2007 diesel vehicles and equipment would be required to have retrofits achieving at least 20% PM emission reduction.
  3. Fiscal Year 2018: All pre-2007 diesel vehicles and equipment not previously retrofit would be required to have retrofits achieving at least 85% (such as DPF) or best available pollution reductions.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts limits unnecessary idling to five minutes. There are more stringent rules in school zones. These limits are contained, in various forms, in both Massachusetts general laws and in environmental regulations, and the different agencies of the City of Boston derive their authority under different provisions with different enforcement mechanisms and fines. The proposed ordinance simplifies and unifies the authority for Boston Police Department, Boston Transportation Department, and the Air Pollution Control Commission to enforce the current state-wide limits in a consistent way. It does not change those limits. Fines for violation of the idling rules will be $100 for the first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.

Source: City of Boston