California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

Here I am, only about a week or two into the new year and already my resolutions are quickly falling by the wayside.

In last month’s article, I shared my perspective about “putting the fun back in funerals.” I certainly became more aware of my own mortality over all this green solutions to cremation for us baby boomers. But honestly, you can count me out on the body donation to science thing, since I discovered that after they are done cutting you to pieces, they still end up burning what’s left—with no real environmental benefits. I’ll pass!

Sticking with the theme of baby boomers and their effects on the environment, I read up on the importance of exercise programs for us. I discovered that walking seemed to be the best, at least for me—brisk walking, of course. You really need to get the higher heart rate up in order to lose the pounds and strengthen that heart muscle. The downside, of course, is the increased CO2 you will exhale when you exercise, the gas that’s blamed for killing our planet!

After the new exercise plan for 2012 was finalized, I decided that the next thing I would concentrate on was identifying and eliminating another bad habit: procrastination, especially when it is time for this monthly CTN magazine article.

With all the news at my fingertips, I spend a couple of days at the end of each month trying to decide which topics to cover for the up-coming issue. Many of these subjects and topics run 24/7 through what is left of my brain, and when it is time to begin typing, I get this block—writer’s block, they call it. I find myself using excuse after excuse to not write. I start and then stop until I’m out of time. I then rationalize all this by saying to myself that I work better under pressure. Who hasn’t done that before?

With a Wednesday deadline from the CTN editor and ideas churning in my mind, I was taking a walk when a family medical emergency occurred. What bad timing, I thought. There is no way I can write my article now. 

Then, while trying to get out of bed on Thursday, I felt muscle soreness in my calves from the walk and came to the conclusion that all this exercise cannot be good for one’s health, and it might even affect my writing. But how can I make my heart healthy if I don’t exercise? Such a dilemma…Maybe I’ll just lay down until my muscle pains go away. Didn’t Mark Twain say, “I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercise regularly”?

Then my cell phone rang and the name “Lee Brown” appeared on the incoming call message. I begin to feel my heart race; I know I’m in trouble for failing to meet my deadline—again. I let it go to voicemail, continuing to check my pulse every few minutes. It remains elevated, which means I must be getting myself into shape without moving. So, as of today (late Friday), there are no more brisk walks, and I’ve realized that procrastinating is, in fact, good for me and may be a legitimate alternative to actually exercising. The scary part about this was when I began to wonder, “Isn’t this exactly how Democrats I know think?” Next will come the worker’s comp stress claim!

Then I came to my senses, finished this report, and fulfilled my responsibilities—and its pretty satisfying!

So, what did I learn?

Procrastinating may be good for some, but it can be deadly for others.

As of January 1 those who failed to take action to become CARB-compliant will be in trouble, especially those with large fleets (3 or more trucks) who have not yet done any upgrades. The reporting deadline is January 31.

Our magazine has been full of articles about all of this, as has our website. Take the time to read all the information. Here are the most important things you can be doing today:
Check your engine label and take a picture of it for your records. You are going to need this information for reporting. If the label is gone, immediately call the manufacturer and order a replacement. You can’t do anything without it.

If you have your engine label information you can go directly to www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onrdiesel/reportinginfo.htm and report. This can be fairly simple for those with 1 to 3 trucks; however, for those of you with larger fleets who are unsure of what you should have been doing previously, I suggest you call CleanFleets at 1-855-CARB411. For those of you who have been able to figure this all out for yourselves, that’s great; you are definitely in the minority. For those who haven’t been able to fugure it out or don’t want to, call those who have figured it first, and if that fails call our friends at CleanFleets.

Just in time for the roll-out of their regulations, CARB has added additional enforcement officers, and they mean business. The penalties for failure to comply will be more than any average small business can pay. I am sure that within the next few months, we will see the names of those who have not taken action up on CARB’s website, and they will be spewing the same old story: “Company X is killing the kids with all their old trucks, we caught them, and they are sorry but guilty and were fined $XYZ.” The outcome will not be good, so please do not procrastinate. As my father would say, “Betty Anne, do as I say, not as I do.”

As I write these last few paragraphs, I am receiving numerous calls from members letting me know that our lawsuit against CARB just made the Fox national news (Jan. 6 about 3:30 PM PST; the link is on our website). I hope you feel the same deep pride in this organization that I do when our side of this story hits the news. We have never wavered in our efforts to protect the small trucking owners in California. Regardless of what type of trucking you are involved with, if you are a small or even a medium-sized trucker (25-50 trucks) in this state, we are the only organization here and actually in the entire U.S. representing your business interests related to this CARB regulation that forces you to buy a new truck. This has never been easy, perhaps unpopular with some, and to the deceived general public, it is something they do not believe will affect them. Of course we know it will, with the tremendous price increases everyone will see as enforcement begins and truck supplies run low.

Two sayings come to mind when I hear and see enviros and regulators say that the costs of all these regulations are insignificant and can all be easily passed along. Being insulated by government ineptitude, these bureaucrats clearly do not understand the private world where the lowest bid wins. Maybe it is time for government workers and bureaucratic leaders to live like we have for most of our lives and especially the last 3 or 4 years. One of my favorite sayings on this economic issue is, “It is a recession when your neighbor loses his/her job, and a depression when you lose yours.” The other is, “Character is doing the right thing when no one is looking.”

As a result of these CARB regulations, the job losses to our industry will be widespread and costly for the small business people and minorities, and this is one time in my life I wish I weren’t right. However, it will take this calamity fully playing out with all its devastation and deception before the people of California wake up and realize what this agency (CARB), with its unelected board and employees, with no oversight, no scientific integrity, no due process requirements, is totally out of control and one of the biggest job-killing agencies ever created.

I will take comfort in the fact that we did the right thing when we sued CARB to the very end. To me this is and should always be the American way.  We should never lose this spirit because it is what this country was founded on: fighting against oppressive governments. I hope everyone read the article about Thomas Jefferson in the last issue of the magazine. His quote that I most liked and that is still relevant today was, “To compel a man [or woman] to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”

Betty Plowman