Diesel emissions are being cut.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By David Robson For The Register-Guard

Laura Etherton's Dec. 29 guest veiwpoint regarding diesel engine emissions from off-highway equipment needs a response. She states that such emissions are "largely uncontrolled right now," but that assertion is false.

Emission limits have been in effect for a number of years, and there has been a schedule set for tightening those requirements over time. While the technology does exist to deliver emissions performance that exceeds current standards, that technology is far from mature.

Experimental units being tested around the country have higher costs and lower reliability.

I work for a locally owned, major-brand heavy equipment retailer, and I have seen a lot of change in the 24 years I have been in the business.

Since around 1997, when the first-tier off-highway diesel emissions regulations went into effect, our factory has produced equipment using only new engines meeting those requirements. It is not at all difficult for the casual observer to see and smell the improvement in these new models.

Those first-tier engines have been very successful, increasing power and fuel economy while dramatically reducing emissions.

In 2003 the second tier of emissions regulations went into effect, and as with the first tier, the newest engines are performing well and the industry is getting a good number of them into the market.

It is very costly for a manufacturer to develop a new engine design, get it performing to the standards the market expects, and deliver it at a price the market will pay. A remanufactured engine for a typical medium-sized excavator built before 1997 costs more than $10,000, not including installation costs. A new emission-certified engine can easily cost twice as much, and there are extra costs to modify older equipment systems to perform correctly with a retrofitted engine.

We do manage to sell some certified engine retrofits by highlighting the value of things like fuel savings and increased reliability, but it is still difficult for a contractor to get the added initial cost to pencil out.

As more certified engines reach the market, the larger installed base will result in lower cost per unit.

As long as the industry can furnish new equipment and engines at prices that will deliver a good return on investment, contractors will continue to buy those products in respectable numbers, and a comparable number of older, higher-polluting engines and equipment will ultimately be sent to scrap yards for recycling.

We all want our air and water to be clean, and our environment is cleaner than it has been in the past. Folks such as myself who earn our living serving the logging and construction industries are proud to know that almost every new unit delivered replaces an older one, causing a net reduction in not only exhaust emissions, but in other pollutants such as noise and fluid leakage.

If the current schedule for tightening emission standards were accelerated, costs would increase and more potential buyers would necessarily opt to keep older units in service.

David Robson of Eugene has worked in the heavy equipment industry for 24 years.