Projects Funded by the City of Chicago Subject to New In-Use Rules

This was originally posted on the John Deere, Straightforward Blog March 29, 2011. You can view the original post here.

Regulations impacting construction machinery currently in use will take effect in Chicago on June 1 this year. The recently passed Chicago Clean Diesel Construction Ordinance will require the use of Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) and meeting any state or local reduced idling regulations in construction equipment used for contracts awarded by the City of Chicago that exceed $2 million. This is the latest of several in-use rules already enacted in the greater Chicago area, including the Cook County Green Construction Ordinance and the O’Hare Modernization Program.

This ordinance becomes stricter on January 1, 2014 with retrofit device requirements for non-road engines that do not meet Tier 1and a minimum 2.1 clean fleet score (CFS). The CFS is calculated by assigning a score to each piece of equipment in a fleet based on the characteristics of its engine, totaling the score for the entire fleet, and dividing the total by the number of machines in the fleet.

There is a provision for fleets totaling less than 2,500 horsepower to receive a CFS waiver if the fleet owner can show that re-powering, replacing or retrofitting all or some of the fleet to comply with contract requirements will cause “undue financial hardship.” Machines owned or leased by a CFS waiver grantee may be deducted from the CFS calculation for a given project.

Beginning on January 1, 2017, the CFS requirement increases to 3.0, and only 50% of the machines owned or leased by a CFS waiver grantee may be deducted.

Finally, starting on January 1, 2020, the CFS requirement peaks at 4.0, and just 25% of a CFS waiver grantee’s owned or leased machines may be deducted.

There are administrative requirements, as well: contractors must report machine ownership information, machine and engine VINs, EPA engine tiers, and retrofit devices. Records must also be maintained for three years after project completion.

Any city agency may conduct an audit to ensure compliance with the ordinance, and there are monetary fines if a contractor does not meet the requirements.

Your John Deere dealer can help you address in-use regulations by conducting a fleet analysis and discussing retrofit, repower, rental, and replacement options. Your dealer can also explain how telematics systems, such as JDLink^TM, can help you keep tabs on idle times across an entire fleet of equipment.

Source: "John Deere MachineFinder" via Glen in Google Reader