HIGH COURT VOIDS AQMD RULE ALTERNATIVE-FUEL REQUIREMENT FOR VEHICLE FLEETS STRUCK DOWN.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Saying local regulators overstepped their authority, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down Southern California rules that require private companies to buy alternative-fuel instead of diesel-fuel vehicles.

South Coast Air Quality Management District officials called the ruling a major setback in the region's struggle to cut ozone and particulate matter pollution .

``We can't afford to slack off at this point. We need to do more to clean air. We can't afford to see any tools disappear,'' AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said.

Adopted in 2000, the rules targeted toxic diesel exhaust from vehicles that frequent residential neighborhoods, such as transit and school buses, trash trucks, airport shuttles and taxis, street sweepers and utility trucks. Operators with 15 or more vehicles had to switch to cleaner fuels or lower-emission models when buying new vehicles.

Public and private fleets have purchased some 8,900 lower-emission vehicles and passenger cars and cut 4,800 tons per year of pollutants since the rules took effect.

But private fleet operators were thrilled with the court's ruling, saying it would free them to buy the most reliable and most cost-effective equipment - which is usually diesel-fueled.

``A government agency is essentially dictating what we should do on fuel and it's not right,'' said Timothy Dillon, safety and environment officer for Foothill Waste Reclamation, which serves the San Fernando Valley. ``It isn't that the industry didn't want to make the change. It's just that the infrastructure was not there.''

Dillon said his company hasn't bought a new trash truck since the rules took effect and was preparing to ask for an exemption to buy diesel trucks because alternative-fuel options were either unavailable, too expensive or its was too difficult to install fueling stations.

The lawsuit was brought by the Engine Manufacturers Association, which argued only the federal government could set new pollution limits for commercial engines.

The fleet rules were essentially a ban on diesel engines and the industry would have to develop new models for Los Angeles-area vehicles, opponents said.

The Bush administration sided with the engine manufacturers and the Department of Justice filed a brief to overturn the rules.

AQMD officials contended the rules didn't require manufacturers to develop new engines but ordered operators to choose the cleanest engine on the market. The state of California and environmental groups sided with the AQMD.

But the court disagreed. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing the court's opinion, said ``The manufacturer's right to sell federally approved vehicles is meaningless in the absence of a purchaser's right to buy them.''

Justice David H. Souter filed the only dissent, saying the rules require the purchase of a cleaner engine only if it's commercially available and do not require manufacturers to produce a new kind of engine.

In light of the Supreme Court decision AQMD officials said Wednesday they would now petition to EPA for a permission to regulate private fleets.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com