SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board has released the final staff report on the Proposed Identification of Diesel Exhaust as a Toxic Air Contaminant, in preparation for an expected public hearing in Sacramento, on July 30.

A limited number of copies of the full ten-part report, weighing a whopping 30 pounds, are available through the ARB's Office of Communications. That version contains the Health Risk Assessment, the Exposure Assessment, as well as public comments offered since Cal/EPA scientists released the report's first draft in 1994.

Additional copies of the report's Initial Statement of Reasons, which contains the most recent findings of the independent Scientific Review Panel at its April 22, 1998 meeting also have been printed for the environmentally conscientious who do not need the entire document.

To obtain either version of the document please contact the ARB's Office of Communications at (916) 322-2990 or fax us at (916) 445-5025. The report is also available on the ARB's website at: www.arb.ca.gov. More information about the report can be obtained by calling the ARB's Air Quality Measures Branch at: (916) 445-6318.