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To Whom It May Concern:

I am a California resident, and I own and operate a 2005
Freightliner Columbia truck tractor in interstate commerce. My
truck is already equipped with EGR technology, is well-maintained,
and burns very little oil. 

Thanks to CARB's mandate that I retrofit my truck with a DPF, I
spent $16,900.19 to comply. Having no other means of financing at
my disposal, I was forced to charge this expense to several credit
cards, which means that I will incur several thousand dollars of
interest charges in addition to the cost of the retrofit itself.
Add to that a probable annual expense of at least $400.00 to remove
and clean the DPF and one wonders what sane person would even
attempt to continue doing business in this state. I suppose I
should strongly consider seeking professional help, but I digress. 


Since the retrofit, my fuel economy has decreased .448 miles per
gallon. If this decrease holds or worsens, I will incur
approximately $4000.00 in additional fuel expenses per year based
on today's fuel prices and last year's total of 110,633 miles
driven. 

Needless to say, all of this added expense has put an incredible
strain on my ability to operate my business profitably. I fail to
see how forcibly requiring me to spend an exorbitant amount of
money just to end up consuming more diesel fuel can possibly
improve California's air quality. 

I suppose if the goal is to put independent businessmen like myself
OUT of business with prohibitive costs to continue DOING business
in this state, thereby reducing the overall number of trucks on
California's roads, there could be said to be some method to this
state's madness. 

For what it's worth, I think it is an unspeakable evil for one
state to force such incredible costs and inconvenience upon the
other 49. California's increasingly unwieldy, impractical, and
impracticable emissions requirements are each year making it ever
more difficult and expensive for freight carriers to operate
profitably. With each succeeding model year, trucks are incurring
higher and higher maintenance costs and spending more and more time
in the shop and less on the road, almost entirely due to these
cumbersome emissions mandates. Unfortunately, and worst of all,
it's all being done as a result of politics, not science.