"THE MISUSE OF DIESEL SCIENCE BY THE CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD"
CALIFORNIA PETROLEUM CONFERENCE
HILTON SAN DIEGO RESORT & SPA, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, JUNE 23, 2009

There is no working with CARB.

I found that 95% of my equipment and trucks will be illegal to use and sell in the state of California when this regulation is in place. And I took offense to that. I didn't expect my entire net worth was going to be devastated by regulation.

What CARB has done by regulation, by edict, is destroy the business model. You all know the business model. A guy takes and saves a little bit of money and he invests it and buys equipment and then hires some people and helps the economy. They have destroyed all the savings that you and I have saved up. They want you to buy all new stuff. Sitting there with all their staff, they say, well, you have to raise your prices. I didn't know it was that easy. I'll just go out on bids and raise my prices. I won't get that job. Someone else will, Someone else will do the job who doesn't comply and they'll keep doing it until they get caught and then they'll say 'You caught me' and walk away.

This is going to be the worst regressive tax ever put on this state. A lot of people will go out of business because they can't afford to do this. And the ones that are left will have to raise their prices because that's what they have to do. And prices are going to go up on everything from apples to whisky.

So what am I going to do? Close my doors? I have employees. I could retire. But I have two employees who have been with me for more than 30 years. They need to work. How are they going to pay for their health insurance? Talk about a health problem: getting care when you have no health insurance. I haven't taken a salary since last year. Because I want to help my people.

The science is bogus. It is absolutely bogus. That's not fair, using bogus science when it's going to cost us all this money. And then I studied the legal side. And I found that was bogus, too. They don't have the authority to regulate off-road engines. They're doing it anyway. They've been applying for waivers to regulate.

I filed a suit last Thursday: Brown vs. Adams (head of Cal EPA). Pacific Legal Foundation is doing it pro bono for us. This is a classic taking. They are taking my assets away from me by making them worthless. The Constitution says that government can't take assets away from me without paying me for it.

I think we can beat them on the science side. I think we can beat them on the legal side. But it will take people getting up off their behinds.

We're getting too much government. That's what we're getting. We're going to have to throw it down. We need to get some of these folks out of the office. CARB is going to survive. So is the Sacramento AQMD. Because they can fine you. They're getting money from you and you and me because we're not towing the mark because we're not complying with regulations that they have enacted that they don't have the authority to enact.

It's going to take a groundswell of folks who say I've had enough. What have I got to lose? They've already got everything, anyway.

I've been through four recessions. How you survive it is through your assets. But if they take your assets away, you have nothing.

They have the mantra, they have the marching orders as to where they have to go, and then they just head that way.