Air board's cover-up casts pall on diesel rules

[The Straight Story]

Air board's cover-up casts pall on diesel rules


A year ago, high officials of the California Air Resources Board learned that the author of a statistical study on diesel soot effects had falsified his academic credentials.

The CARB researcher, Hien Tran, acknowledged the deception and agreed to be demoted, but after his data were given another peer review, they remained the basis of highly controversial regulations that will cost owners of trucks, buses and other diesel-powered machinery millions of dollars to upgrade their engines. The Tran study concluded that diesel "particulate matter" was responsible for about 1,000 additional deaths each year.

Only recently, with the rules on the verge of final promulgation, did board officials formally acknowledge Tran's falsification, largely because one board member, Fresno cardiologist John Telles, did his own investigation and complained about an apparent cover-up.

Telles, in sharp letters to board officials and during last month's CARB meeting, said the chain of events casts a pall over the legitimacy of the vote to proceed with the new rules.

"Failure to reveal this information to the board prior to the vote not only casts doubt on the legitimacy of the truck rule, but also upon the legitimacy of CARB itself," Telles said, adding, however, that he doesn't question the validity of the science.

http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/2363161.html#mi_rss=State%20Politics

[tularetom]

1. I would say the legitimacy of CARB is already very much in question

Watch "Who Killed the Electric Car" for explanation.

Trailer and info available at ---->http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/