Before your Trail Santa can leave the Recreation HQ to deliver
Christmas presents to the OHV community, he needs you to attend the CARB/Red
Sticker Meetings next week in Fresno and Diamond Bar.
As many of you know, the CA Air Resources Board has started
a 2 year project to review/analyze both the evaporative and exhaust emissions
from the “Red Sticker” family of off-highway motorcycles.
I attended the 1st of three public scoping meetings
that ARB is holding throughout the state.
There was solid representation in Sacramento from the MIC, OHV Division
and Commission, and user groups. The next two meetings (with directions) are
listed below:
Dec. 16 @ Fresno - http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/offroad/orrec/fresnoworkshopinfo.pdf
Dec. 17 @ Diamond Bar - http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/offroad/orrec/dbworkshopinfo.pdf
Having worked through the 1997 red sticker debate/fight
where the concept of a functional ban of 2-strokes was being considered by the
regulators, I was pleasantly surprised by the collaborative and cooperative attitude
of ARB staff. They stated that a BAN as
a solution is not being considered nor is it a goal. As a side note, several of
them are avid motorcyclists.
ARB staff made it clear that they want to work with us
(OEMs, aftermarket, dealers, user groups) in this review process with an end
goal of presenting (Dec. 2015) the ARB board with some “common sense” proposals
to address red sticker motorcycle emissions with a special focus on
evaporative/diurnal emissions.
They are asking for our help via information as to red
sticker usage, percentage of 2-strokes vs. 4 strokes, MX/closed course vs. amateur
events on public lands, etc. They are
also looking for cost-effective and non-bulky engineering ideas such as small in-frame
charcoal canisters, one way check valves, non-permeable plastics/tanks, etc. to
address diurnal emissions. ARB is also
looking for suggestions related to their testing parameters.
They will also be analyzing the red sticker issue in a
holistic manner by looking at new mitigating factors such as most ATVs now have
stringent EPA-mandated emission controls, growing number of red sticker motorcycles
that use fuel injection/closed fuel systems,
low emission 2-stroke oils, etc.
ARB staff is also interested in the current economic state (i.e.
sales) of red-sticker motorcycles and related industry. Could new regulations
kill production of youth motorcycles? I
think it will be important for them to hear from dealers and others on this particular
issue. It seems they are under the
impression that off-road motorcycle sales are going gangbusters when just the
opposite may be true.
Although this project is mostly focused on analyzing red
sticker motorcycles, they plan to test some green sticker motorcycles as a
control group. These initial scoping
meetings are just the beginning of the process and I strongly encourage red sticker-related
stakeholders to get engaged with this process.
It is a rare item for a regulatory agency to undertake this sort of
user-friendly approach.
The proof will be in the pudding (or gas tank in our case)
on just how collaborative this process will be.
But for now, we should get engaged and offer our ideas/solutions related
to the red sticker program/vehicles.
Your Trail Santa
Posts
Don, big thanks for all your hard work in Calif. & BRC !
ReplyDeleteI've found government agencies tend to "butter you up" in the early stages of planning, to get you off their back, then near the end of the process they pull the rug out from under you. Beware. But trying to keep a positive attitude, hopefully it will go well for us riders.
Rider to Agency: "Do you plan to restrict.. XXX? ". Agency: "No, no plans for that at all...".
Six months later: Rider: "I thought you said the agency would never...XXX". Agency: "Well, we found we had to...XXX".
Agencies love to create new rules, especially CARB, to justify their existence, and they often target the next lowest-hanging fruit.
(But maybe we a stronger than we assume?).
I've heard it 25% of air pollution in Calif comes from China anyway. Clamping down on a few recreationists improves overall air quality maybe, what 0.01% ?
Anyway, squeaky wheels usually get some grease. Keep up the good fight. And sorry for all the trite metaphors.
Paul
BRC-Cal4-CORVA member