California Dump Truck Owners Association (CDTOA) - California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

So 2012 is here, and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and safe New Year. I am optimistic that as the year progresses, it will be a more profitable one than 2011 was for everyone.
Unfortunately, even though the weather has been beautiful here in the south, work has been spotty at best. It’s kind of funny how there is all this talk of deadly polluted air from the media, CARB and EPA, and yet this time of year we (and many around the world) can’t seem to get enough of our weather and our so-called dirty air. You almost have to be a moron to believe any of this propaganda coming from EPA and CARB today about particulate matter (PM) and extreme weather events. The only extreme I have seen is extremely nice weather and clean air!

Speaking of CARB, at last they finalized their regulations, and their reporting site is up and running. Everyone should report their power units to CARB by March 30, 2012. I actually have reported and was able to enter my information and download my verification sheet with no problems. Here is the website for reporting: www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onrdiesel/reportinginfo.htm. Remember if the site has any problems, report them to CARB and then blog about them on our website. If you feel uncomfortable going on the CARB website, you can still call Sean Edgar at CleanFleets and, for a fee, they will report for you. They will also explain all your compliance options and things like engine control label conformance. It’s worth the investment if you feel a little overwhelmed. Sean’s office number is 916-718-7050.

Well, we have a new year and, to no one’s surprise, we need to monitor the developments (and numerous lawsuits) associated with CARB, EPA, AB32, and cap and trade to see what all these wonderful environmentalists’ social engineering plans will do to us next.

I want to thank all of you, our committed members, who took the time to vote in our election. I also want to thank all of you for your desire to be involved at your local chapters all the way up to the executive committee. It is because of your input, involvement and membership that our association continues to grow in strength and numbers.

Thank you all.

We had a very successful Annual Board Meeting at the Bahia Resort in San Diego November 4 & 5. I want to especially thank Lorraine Perluss and the staff, along with Lee, who work so hard to put these meetings together three times a year and making them run so smoothly.

I also want to thank all the members and affiliates who take the time to show up and be part of this Association. Thank you also to Brooks, Pat and Kirk for their representation of our Association in Sacramento and act as our legal counsel at the board meetings. We have come a long way through some very tough times together. I believe things are getting better for at least the Association; all of us working together really makes a difference – I’m convinced of that.

October is here. Work has been opening up just in time for winter. Overlying carriers cannot find enough trucks to supply the demand. Combine a bad economy, high operating costs, and over-regulation with low truck rates, and it’s easy to see how so many carriers have become collateral damage in this new green economy.

Up our way, I’ve heard that Valley Aggregates Trucking (VAT), probably one of the largest pure construction trucking companies in the Sacramento area, closed its doors September 29th. I had heard that low truck rates, over-regulation, including the impending CARB rules, and a bad run-in with a union (Teamsters) organizing effort, all have led to a fish-or-cut-bait moment—and the bait won.

Does anyone remember the movie Poltergeist when the little girl in front of the TV says, “They’re back!” Well, my take is, “It’s here!”

You may be wondering, what’s here? Well, it’s what 10 to 20 years of green hell gets us. Sure, the air and wastewater treatment was bad 40 to 50 years ago and environmental regulations were needed, and they’ve done a great job up until the 1990’s. No one opposes being environmentally sensitive. Not surprisingly, no matter how clean the air and water get, the EPA/CARB and all those that depend on green largess continue to find unacceptable risks, mostly based on junk science like CARB’s PM regulations or EPA’s CASAC ozone research. The EPA’s and state regulators’ powers and budgets, as well as those of environmentalists, depend on a continued public perception that there is a serious problem to solve. The regulations worked; now we should stop right where we are at and reevaluate every federal and state regulation and agency and all the public jobs that depend on this unwieldy job-killing machine. It is very unlikely that the environment would be harmed if we stopped and even rolled back many of these regulatory schemes, especially those based on junk science.

I Love My Country but Fear the Government

It’s August, and I must have too much time on my hands because I’ve been reading the paper, the internet, and watching the news more than I usually do this time of year. Then again, maybe it’s the lack of profitable work.

Regardless, I have been rather amused lately (and at other times fearful) of the dysfunction that seems to be so rampant in our government, both state and federal. When trying to understand it all and how it relates to construction and our economy here, the first thing that got my attention was an editorial piece by the internet inventor, the guru of green, the head CO2-caused global warmist1, Mr. Hockey-Stick-Carrying Advocate: Al Gore. The second was another unbelievable story about a study done by USC (I was shocked it wasn’t a UC school) trying to tie parents’ stress to kids’ health problems and NOx — they of course call it pollution.

Well, it’s July, the typical middle of the construction season up here and I’m curious about how much work everyone is involved with. Work seems to start and as quickly hiccups and ends. Hit or miss seems to be what 2011 is all about, with the impending cost of all the CARB regulations before us – it all better be hit.

Our Broker bill has been the hot topic with a lot of interest focused on getting some of those wayward brokers in compliance. Continue to call me and let me know about anyone in your area that needs a little nudge on getting the hint on the new broker law we are working to have the compliance information available on our website (cdtoa.org). It will be open to all interested parties, both members and non-members. Just go to the CDTOA website main page, than go to the broker flash and hit the middle button. If you’re not listed here, you’re probably not aware of the requirements or you’re hiding it. If the latter, we may be calling on you. We have been working with Dan Bertrand who has emailed all the bond holders asking them to release the information to us so that we can post it. We are also adding some new functionality to the CDTOA database to make it easier to update this list. We hope to eventually manage the bond compliance information for the entire broker community.

CTA and the enviros team-up to make CARB regulations even worse – if that's possible

It's June, are you working yet? The jobs started looking a little better last month but the rain has been persistent here in northern California and so jobs are still being delayed.

We have the Board meeting in Oakland this month and CDTOA/AADT has a double-booth in Las Vegas for the Great Western Truck Show. Hope to see some of you there.

Here we are beginning May and work is spotty at best but pretty grim for most. California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been our primary focus for our association over the last two years or more. Last month we devoted some time to hear from our members on an equally important problem, getting paid for their work!

As businessmen that happen to own trucks we not only are tasked with all the bureaucratic B.S. today but have to collect our earned income after we have done the work. For some this is usually forty-five or more days after we complete the job. How much worse is it to continue hauling for your customer when you have no hope of ever collecting your money?

We recently concluded a productive and informative week in Las Vegas at the Construction Expo, or ConExpo, March 22-26. We met with a lot of interesting people from all over the world. I would like to thank Tom Pistacchio, owner of America’s Trailer Company, the parent company of Cozad, newly acquired Reliance Trailers, ACE and a host of other branded construction trailers. They are now I believe, one of only two construction trailer manufacturers left in California! Tom and his staff welcomed us to their booth. We were all able to meet with others in our industry, construction and manufacturing. We promoted CDTOA, AADT, and the California Concrete Pumpers Alliance to the construction world.

I would like to start my report by thanking all of you who took time to meet here in Sacramento for the first board meeting of 2011. It was one of the most well attended meetings I can recall. The staff, Lorraine, Dianna, and Lisa at AADT did a great job of making everything run so smoothly while providing up-to-date business information.

The CDTOA new memberships went through the roof, thanks to Ugalde Trucking and our broker-partnering program.
A special thanks also needs to go to Armstrong & Associates, along with State Fund’s Stewart Holt for their financial support which helps to make our association that much stronger. Armstrong & Associates hosted the Saturday luncheon, and AADT again hosted the Friday working dinner for the EC, staff, consultants, and guests.

I recently read in the paper that the uber-liberal, green-extraordinaire Senate Leader, our own Sacto-son Darrel Steinberg, wants to review regulations that are a burden to businesses here. The story was titled, Steinberg wants big review to kill regulations.

My first reaction was, “Wow, this is almost unbelievable!” The Dems are now claiming that they are going to look into their own activist legislative efforts that are responsible for killing California businesses and the 12.4% unemployment. Yes, the article confirmed that, California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said he “will pursue emergency legislation forcing state agencies to review all regulations and recommend a wholesale rewriting of the state's regulatory scheme.” Steinberg also said, “We need to do a whole lot better in providing a friendlier business climate,” adding, “Democrats need to show businesses that they get it.”