TORONTO — If the government wants the cleanest truck technology on Ontario roads, it should help make it easier for carriers and independent truckers to buy them.

In an appearance yesterday before the Legislative Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, Ontario Trucking Association President David Bradley again called upon the the province to work with the association in developing an Environmental Investment Plan to accelerate the penetration of new, more expensive smog free engines and fuel efficiency devices into the marketplace by 2010.

In his presentation, Bradley walked the three-party member committee through the regulatory emissions timetable of the modern truck engine, highlighting the air quality benefits of the new technology. He also discussed the government’s current and future role in encouraging the industry to purchase the cleaner, greener vehicles.

The time to act on spurring new clean truck engines is now: OTA

“To date the government has provided no financial incentives for the purchase of these near-zero emission vehicles, in fact it has delayed implementation through outdated sales tax treatment of the trucking industry’s capital equipment,” said Bradley. “The time to act is now. An enormous opportunity exists to take steps that will be good for the environment by reducing both smog and GHG emissions, while at the same time being good for the Ontario economy. But we must lay the groundwork now.”

A second round of EPA-mandated emission rules means that as of Jan 1 this year, all new engines cannot emit no more than 0.20 g/hp-hr (grams per horsepower-hour) of nitrogen oxide (NOx), which is a whopping 90-per-cent drop from 2002-04 levels. On top of those reductions, ’07 particulate emissions can’t exceed 0.01 g/hp-hr, and the sulfur level in the fuel needed to power the new engines has dropped from 500 ppm to 15 ppm.

To avoid an even larger pre-buy in the approach to the third, and toughest, round of pollution targets in 2010, Bradley recommended that a high level committee of government and trucking industry officials be established in the upcoming budget to explore the following measures:

— Temporary incentives to support accelerated acquisition of the 2010 vehicles, such as retail sales tax rebates or equivalent grants.

— Longer-term tax changes to better reflect economic realities of these new vehicles and the increasing demand for trucking services, such as more realistic capital cost allowances and the harmonization of the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax.

— Promotion of changes at the federal level to compliment Ontario action. And Educational Tax Credits to create a better trained driver, as driving technique is a key element of fuel efficiency, OTA points out.

To read the submission on the OTA web site, please follow this link: http://www.ontruck.org/submissions.