To: Governor-elect Cuomo New York State Senators
Truckers And Citizens Dump (DERA)
You and your colleagues in the Legislature passed the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) without thinking about its affect on the businesses and truckers of the state.
Why is this important?
Now with final implementation date quickly approaching we find that our companies may need to close because of the cost of compliance. Small trucking companies can not afford to retrofit diesel trucks wih equipment costing up to $30,000 per vehicle. Making matters worse, the retrofit equipment has a significant effect on fuel economy, meaning our costs will skyrocket for the same amount of work.
My family relies on the income I make from delivering materials to state-funded projects-but that will soon come to an end. Instead, I'll probably be standing in the unemployment line because you didn't take the time to look at the impact of DERA on the trucking industry. It's just us-the guys delivering to state jobs-that have to retrofit. Why did you allow the other 99% of the heavy duty diesel vehicles on the road to get a pass? You've singled us out and it is unfair.
If you're really trying to help small businesses and stimulate the New York economy you have two choices:
1. Repeal this terrible law and pass a new one that makes sense, or
2. Change DERA so it clearly only applies to state-owned vehicles.
Just sitting on your hands is not an option-unless you want thousands of people unemployed and no way to get materials to state jobs.
