TORONTO, (Nov. 23, 2004) — The Ontario Liberal government has followed through on a promise by the former Conservatives to establish a new Drive Clean standard which will allow the owners of the cleanest trucks in the
province to undergo emissions testing ever second year instead of annually.

The Ontario Trucking Association confirmed that the McGuinty government will deliver on a previous governmnet endorsement of the four-year old OTA proposal to allow biannual testing for diesel trucks that record opacity readings of less than 20 per cent — the point when emissions become invisible to the human eye.

As Today’s Trucking first reported last year, the government stiffened the emission standards at the time, but also agreed to give an incentive to those with the cleanest heavy-duty vehicles.

The changes makes the mandatory periodic testing requirements more cost-effective and resolves some long-standing concerns over the effectiveness and fairness of the program, the OTA says.

While OTA fought for this change to the testing requirements for heavy duty vehicles, it would still prefer to see the program dissolved completely, as it questions the cost-benefit of the Program. The truck group also notes
that heavy trucks manufactured within the last five years are passing the Drive Clean test by almost 99 per cent.

“OTA’s long-standing position regarding the periodic component of the Drive Clean testing program for trucks is that the costs — measured in equipment downtime and testing fees — far outweigh any environmental benefit,” said
OTA president David Bradley.

Ontario is the only province to operate a periodic diesel emissions program.