AGC presented testimony at a hearing today before a Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee, which is looking into initiatives to reduce diesel emissions in clean air non-attainment areas.
AGC member Bob Lanham, Williams Brothers Construction Company, addressed various incentives that can be used to speed up the development of technologies to help reduce emissions from diesel powered construction equipment. AGC’s testimony pointed out that initiatives aimed at diesel retrofit and repowering of existing equipment must be proven to be effective and not adversely impact the operation of the equipment or the safety of the workers.
AGC supports legislation introduced by Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Clean Air and Nuclear Subcommittee, that will use a portion of congestion mitigation and air quality improvement funds that are intended to be used for clean air initiatives to provide incentives to contractors to upgrade their equipment. Senator Carper intends to include this language as part of the surface transportation reauthorization bill. AGC is working with his staff to ensure the provision does not have a negative impact on the construction industry.
For more information, contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.