Air board orders truck pollution report redone
SACRAMENTO — The state’s air pollution board voted Wednesday to redo a key report guiding truck regulations that was prepared by a staff member who lied about his credentials.
But the California Air Resources Board stopped short of suspending the rules while the work is repeated — a move pushed by a Valley member of the board.
Dr. John Telles has pressed his case for weeks, criticizing board staff and Chairwoman Mary Nichols for failing to reveal that the lead author of a report on health effects of soot falsely claimed a doctorate in statistics from the University of California at Davis. Hien Tran later confessed that he obtained an online degree from an unaccredited university.
The incident gave momentum to critics of the regulations, including truckers who are pushing for a delay. Nichols and other board members have defended the science behind the report, but agreed to redo it after the pressure mounted.
“The work of that individual does have to be withdrawn and redone because of the problems that were created by his action,” Nichols said before the board approved the action on an 8-2 vote. “We have no choice. We have to deal with it.”
But the board never took up Telles’ motion to suspend the rules in the meantime. Some members said the suspension would bring too much uncertainty. Telles said he was “dissatisfied that the board did not make a stronger statement.”
Board staff estimated it would take four months to redo the report.
The regulations require owners of older heavy-duty trucks to install pollution filters starting next year. Beginning in 2013, owners must replace older trucks with 2010 or newer models.
In a separate action, the board directed the staff to propose amendments to the regulations that reflect the fact that emissions recently have been lower than projected because of the slumping economy. During the recession, fewer trucks are on the road, meaning pollution is lower, according to a staff report.
The report gives several possible alternatives, including delaying by two years the rules for midsized fleets of between 20 and 50 trucks. But the report warns against throwing out the rules, saying they are still needed to meet federal pollution targets. The San Joaquin Valley has until the end of 2014 to clean its air.
“We really can’t meet our [target] without cleaning up our trucks,” Sarah Sharpe, environmental health director for Fresno Metro Ministry, said in testimony.
Truckers — who say they cannot afford to comply with the rules — argued that the board underestimated the effects of the economic downturn on emissions. Gayle Lopopolo, co-owner of Ganduglia Trucking in Fresno, said the company’s mileage is down by 39%.
The air board staff predicted an uptick in business starting in 2010, under the best-case scenario. But Lopopolo called that “doubtful at best.”
The report Tran assembled blamed particulate matter, or soot, for thousands of premature deaths statewide annually. Telles, a Fresno cardiologist, has not disputed the health dangers of soot. Rather, he has said Tran’s misrepresentation of his credentials put a cloud over the board’s credibility.
Tran studied at UC Davis and held a master’s degree from the university, but he had not completed his doctoral dissertation, according to state documents. Nichols and air board staff uncovered the lie shortly before the December 2008 vote on the truck rules, but did not immediately disclose it to other board members.
On Tuesday, Nichols admitted to a “mistake in judgment,” saying, “I should have shared this information.”
She asked staffers to prepare a report “that lays out in detail everything that happened and what is being done about it.”
