On Wednesday, December 14, 2011, the State Office of Administrative Law approved amendments to the Large Spark-Ignition Engine Fleet Requirements (LSI Fleet regulation). The amendments became effective on that same day, December 14, 2011. For more information on the amendments, please see the website for this rule making.
These amendments did not postpone deadlines within the regulation, and there are two approaching that you should be aware of. The first requires forklifts to meet specific fleet average requirements and the second requires agricultural crop preparation services fleets to retrofit their forklifts. The requirements for huller/shellers and brown skin almond handlers are different than those for handlers who are manufacturing almonds (i.e. blanching, roasting, etc.).
Huller/Shellers and brown skin almond handlers meet the agricultural crop preparation service definition and are not required to meet fleet average requirements. Instead, they must retrofit 1990 and newer forklifts. 20% of 1990 and newer forklifts should have been retrofitted by Jan 1 2009 with the remainder retrofitted by Jan 1 2012. The LSI Fleet regulation also provides a fleet average alternative that handlers with large numbers of electric forklifts may wish to consider.
If you are a handler who is manufacturing product you are required to adhere to more stringent fleet average requirements however the deadline for final implementation is Jan 1 2013.
Additional fleet and individual exemptions to the LSI requirements include (but are not limited to):
• Small fleets with 1-3 forklifts
• In-field ag forklifts
• Equipment that is rented or leased for a period of no more than 30 aggregate (total) calendar days per year
For additional information you should contact your forklift dealer/manufacturer. You can also visit the visit the ARB website for the complete rule, the text of the large spark-ignition (LSI) engine regulation lies on pages 13-25 with the nut hullers and processors definition is on the bottom of page 16.
For specific questions regarding your fleet you may also visit the LSI Fleet regulation website and tutorial or contact Mark Williams with the Air Resource Board at 916-327-5610.