Study highlights environmental, health costs of emissions system tampering in Alberta
A new report suggests tampering with emissions systems on Class 8 tractors in Alberta is significantly increasing NOx emissions and could cost up to $5.4 billion in adverse health effects.
The research was conducted by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) with the Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA) in Alberta, as part of their The Real Urban Emissions (TRUE) initiative.
The study found that 38% of model year 2010-2015 Class 8 tractors showed evidence of emissions system tampering or malfunctions. Researchers indicated this could increase total NOx emissions by 145% by 2035 compared to a properly functioning fleet. The study also indicated that excess pollution caused by these trucks could cause $5.4 billion in health damages in the province between 2024 and 2035.
The study’s authors concluded that the health impact could also cause 419 preventable deaths. They urged lawmakers to adopt three policies to address the issue: introducing federal anti-tampering legislation with financial penalties for the sale and services related to tampering; launching a provincial inspection and maintenance program to identify problem vehicles; and implementing remote sensing technology for real-time monitoring and enforcement.
“We found it particularly interesting to see the difference between estimated rates of tampered or malfunctioning tractor trucks in the Alberta province and the real-world data,” said Michelle Mayer, researcher with ICCT. “Our analysis showed once again the importance of collecting emissions data from vehicles on the road, enabling us to provide evidence to support sound policy that will improve air quality.”
The organizations note the U.S. already prohibits emissions system tampering under the Clean Air Act. It urges Canadian lawmakers to amend federal regulations here to prohibit the manufacture, sale and installation of equipment designed to defeat emissions systems.
A provincial inspection and maintenance program could be modeled after Ontario’s DriveON program, the researchers said, which requires annual emissions tests for heavy trucks.
And it says remote sensing technology is already used in Colorado and California to monitor emissions levels and identify vehicles with emissions systems that have been tampered with or are malfunctioning.
The full report can be found here.
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NO COMMENT EH it’s all the head commons sense
It can be hard, especially for small fleets, to justify not deleting a truck, when the thousands of dollars and weeks of down time that keeping them intact can (and typically does) lead to. When an owner operator receives their new truck, and half way through the first trip, it codes and derates, ending up the shop for six weeks before being released, then doing the same thing part way through the next trip, they don’t make any money. If they spend a little money to bypass and have a reliable truck that does what it’s supposed to do, and runs to make them money, the decision is pretty easy.
These systems need to be more reliable and the shops need to improve turn around times. When you’re hundreds or thousands of kilometers from home and the shop can’t get you in for three weeks, that’s an issue.
OOppps your say on that I ‘m thinking U gotta get rid of the red tape EH.
It’s easy to hate your emissions system. I had to initially spend a few thousand fixing mine on my 2012 truck. But eventually, the various repairs worked together to make the system reliable and my truck truly runs clean, showing all zeros during testing. Unfortunately, it seems it’s always the tampered and pre emission trucks that sit beside you idling all day at the dock. Shippers and receivers that allow this are part of the problem. The worst offender is Costco in Vaughan Ontario. Yes, a crackdown is needed.