[Mpls] Council committee passes anti-idling ordinance

[Dan]

California, the nation's leading eco-fanatic state has already passed a
truck idling ban, but they, in a state where a trucker is much less likely
to freeze to death still had enough sense to exempt sleeper-trucks from
their ban during federally mandated rest periods.  Earlier in their debate,
it was proposed that the rest-time exemption be codified to expire in 2009,
allowing time for SOLUTIONS. Sense again prevailed in California, and the
sunsetting of that exemption was removed from the final law. They are
waiting for the technology to deal with the issues caused by an idling ban
before making truckers freeze. Californians with more sense than
Minnesotans?! What's going on here? I think the difference is that in
California, they actually talked to some truckers, and industry people to
figure this out, not just a block club.
This is an excerpt from Minnesota Issue Watch about California's idling ban:
"The first part of the proposed rule applies to all diesel vehicles weighing
more than five tons, with a few exceptions. Certain trucks and vehicles
would be allowed to idle their engines for more than five minutes in order
to use auxiliary equipment, such as hydraulics and power takeoff units. In
addition, sleeper trucks would be exempt from the rule during rest periods
until 2009. The lag time was granted to the industry to help them discover
solutions to cool and heat their trucks and provide power to auxiliary
systems while a trucker rests."

I'd also point out that CM Schiff's concerns are ostensibly about noise in
residential neighborhoods. California's law is primarily meant to deal with
emissions, but deals with noise as well. They simply banned idling within
100 feet of a residence. Sounds pretty reasonable and simple to me. The
language in the proposed Minneapolis ordinance uses the phrase,
"residentially used area" which can mean anything. It is completely unclear
and ambiguous. 100 feet is 100 feet. Anyone can understand that, and it can
be measured.

There are about 20 other communities with some sort of idling ban in place.
I've yet to find one that bans refrigeration. I guess Minneapolis wants to
be a leader in a bold new adventure in food poisoning.

Dan McGrath
Longfellow
http://www.smokeoutgary.org