A Better Way To Spend Our Billions

We can build a tunnel that will be outdated due to technological changes within a decade and one which truckers will not want to use because of potential dangers and risks OR we can help subsidize changes to trucks immediately that solve emissions problems not only for Windsor but the rest of the country. Here is what is being done in Quebec now as reported by Today's Trucking Magazine on-Line:

• "Time for Quebec trucks to quit smoking; anti-emissions rule takes effect 09/04/2006
  
  QUEBEC CITY -- La Belle Province is truly becoming non-smoking. Cigarette smokers have been forbidden to blow smoke in public areas since May, but now it's truckers' turn to stop fumes from their trucks in the province. This past weekend, Quebec’s road inspectors began giving tickets under the new anti-truck pollution program, Programme d'inspection et d'entretien des véhicules automobiles lourds (PIEVAL).
  
  This heavy-duty vehicle inspection and maintenance program -- which takes effect anywhere in Quebec below the 55 parallel -- was officially launched on June 1st with several educational demonstrations in different regions of Quebec. Enforcement began on Sept. 1st
  
  Targeted by the PIEVAL are the vehicles weighting over 3,000 kg, including trucks, bus, emergency vehicles and municipal vehicles. Excepted are farm and off-road vehicles.
  
  The Quebec government estimates that between 15,000 and 18,000 heavy vehicles using the province’s roads produces emissions exceeding standards normally accepted in other states and Provinces with similar vehicle emissions programs like Drive Clean in Ontario or B.C.'s Air Care On-Road.
  
  Inspectors will measure the opacity of exhaust smoke using a "snap acceleration method." Québec’s 240 inspectors will target and conduct road-side tests on trucks that either look or smell like they my be polluting.
  
  For the first two years of the program, acceptable opacity rates will be 45 percent for 1991 and newer trucks and 60 percent for 1990 models and older. After two years, 1991 and newer trucks have to meet a 40 percent opacity benchmark, while 1990 and older must pass a 55 percent standard.
  
  Owners of vehicles over the acceptable rates will receive a fine between $100 and $400, depending if the vehicle is registered to an individual or a company. Those who fail to pay within 30 days and prove the vehicle has been repaired at a provincially accredited re-test/repair facility, can be charged with fines between $300 and $3,000. Training on good maintenance practices and where emission control components could fail is now offered at to Quebec heavy vehicle owners."

Just so you know, Ontario has a comparable program as well.

• Drive Clean for heavy-duty trucks and buses.
  
  "Ontario's Drive Clean program for large trucks and buses has been helping protect the quality of the air we breathe from its beginnings in September of 1999. And it will make an even larger contribution to protecting our health and our environment with the implementation of the diesel emissions test standards that are among the strictest in North America.
  
  Heavy-duty vehicles must pass regular emissions tests in order to have their registrations renewed. Tests are required for vehicles when they are five years old (beginning with 2001 model years in 2006 and 2002 models in 2007). Resale vehicles also require testing for ownership transfer if they are older than the current model year (i.e., model 2005 and older in 2006), as a consumer protection measure. There is no limit on the age of vehicles to be tested.
  
  This applies to diesel-powered vehicles registered anywhere in Ontario and to heavy-duty non-diesel vehicles in the areas of Southern Ontario where light-duty testing is required.
  
  Diesel vehicle emissions test standards are being tightened because diesel engines are a major source of fine particles or particulate matter (PM). PM is an important component of smog and is being increasingly viewed as a serious threat to our health and our environment."