Construction has yet to begin on the first stretch of California’s high-speed rail line through the central San Joaquin Valley. But once significant work does start, officials say the heavy equipment to be used will be some of the cleanest machinery available .

In a show-and-tell event Wednesday at an equipment-staging yard on Golden State Boulevard, near Highway 99 and Herndon Avenue in northwest Fresno, representatives of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state Transportation Agency and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District touted how the latest-generation diesel machinery will help ease the effects of earth-moving and heavy construction on the Valley’s troubled air.

Jim Laing, a project manager for prime contractor Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons, said his company has invested “in excess of $10 million so far” on what the U.S. EPA refers to as Tier 4 equipment — cranes, bulldozers and excavators equipped with engines that emit much less air pollution than earlier generations of machines.

Continue reading via The Fresno Bee