[Mpls] Council committee passes anti-idling ordinance

[Steve Nelson]

As a one time over the road trucker I couldn't agree with Dyna more.

Well said, Dyna!

Steven M Nelson
Willard Hay
http://citizenshipchronicles.blogspot.com/
Get UP! Get OUT! & GET INVOLVED!!!

> Dyna Sluyter
wrote
>>  I wrote Gary Schiff about the issue, and his attitude is 
>>essentially that truckers should get out of the city.
> 
> First, let me apologize for our young Democratic Farmer Labor 
> endorsed Council Member; He is still a bit inexperienced and has yet 
> to fully appreciate the fine agrarian and working class traditions of 
> our party. Gary seems to look at flour mills and factories and see 
> condo conversions where we more experienced DFLers see jobs. Now of 
> course Gary's vision would be fine and dandy, but for the problem 
> that the citizens will have to work somewhere like those factories to 
> earn the money to buy his dream condos.
> 
> But if Council Member Gary Schiff and his fellow Council 
> Members really want to cut idling they should start by setting a good 
> example with our own fleet. Has not every citizen seen Minneapolis' 
> city vehicles idling for what seems like eternity?
> 
> Let's start with the big iron- we own a locomotive and 
> towboat powered by decades old diesels with no pollution controls 
> whatsoever. These are huge engines, with each cylinder as big as a 
> big diesel trucks whole engine, and they have at least 12 of those 
> cylinders. The 2007 truck diesels will emit less than one hundreth of 
> the fine particulates  that the pre-emmissions controlled diesels of 
> decades ago did. Thusly our city's locomotive or towboat when idling 
> emit more fine particulates than a thousand idling 2007 diesel 
> trucks. And those big engines idle a lot- they're so hard to start 
> that as a general rule they are not shut off until they return to 
> their Port of Minneapolis home.
> 
> There are ways to clean up our city's biggest moveable 
> polluters. New locomotives cost over a million dollars and I hate to 
> think what a new towboat would cost. But several retrofit 
> technologies exist that could clean up these monster diesels. These 
> diesels engines are still produced, so it's possible to install much 
> of the latest pollution control equipment on older models such as 
> ours. Their are also several ways to reduce idling such as 
> "smart-start" technologies that start the engine up when it or the 
> cabin  are getting too cold then shut the engine off again when their 
> warm again. Diesel or propane fueled heaters are also available that 
> much more cleanly keep the engines and cabs warm without idling. 
> Another option seen on many new passenger locomotives is a smaller 
> "pony" diesel generator that provides heat, lighting, etc. while the 
> train is parked allowing the much larger propulsion diesel to be shut 
> off.
> 
> How many diesel trucks does our city own? Hundreds, and many 
> spend as much time idling to keep the windows defrosted, radios 
> running, etc. as they do moving. Similar technologies to the really 
> big diesels are available such as diesel fueled heaters to keep cabs 
> and engines warm and isolation switches to allow one battery to power 
> radios and such while other batteries are kept in reserve to restart 
> the engine.
> 
> Several commentators have suggested that the facilities 
> served by great numbers of diesel trucks be required to install 
> devices like "Idleair" to cut down on idling. As owner of two of the 
> major destinations for big diesel trucks in our city, the Convention 
> Center and Port of Minneapolis, again our city should step forward 
> and set the example. Idleair is more suited to southern climates 
> where heat is more a problem that the cold we experience, so it would 
> be a questionable investment. However, just installing some 120 volt 
> plug ins at the truck parking areas of our city facilities would 
> allow truckers to plug in their engines, electric blankets and 
> heaters, etc. and shut off their diesels. These plain old electric 
> plug in's would work perfectly with the 120 volt cab electrification 
> systems now coming to market that are much more cost effective than 
> Idleair.
> 
> And last but not least, just putting some biodiesel or 
> ethanol in the appropriate fuel tanks will do a lot to cut vehicle 
> emissions too.
> 
> So Council Member Schiif, what say ye- are you ready to amend 
> your ordinance to truly clear the air rather than bash the blue 
> collar workers on wheels?
> 
> From Hawthorne, where our dairy's diesels provide living wage 
> jobs and fresh foods,
>