Metro Vancouver is planning to slap fees on the most polluting diesel heavy equipment as part of a strategy to spur upgrades and reduce air emissions linked to cancer.

Older pre-1996 machines like excavators, backhoes, forklifts and loaders could be charged $4 per horsepower per year starting in 2011 and that annual fee could climb to $20 per horsepower by 2016, according to a discussion paper released by the regional district.

Newer machines built from 1996 to 2003 would pay half the rate of the older diesel engines.

More recent engines or older ones upgraded to modern standards would be exempt from fees.

The proposed fees could easily mean annual payments in the thousands of dollars for each older off-road heavy machine.

"What we want to do is reduce the emissions and do it with the least amount of adverse impact on the industry as a whole and particularly the operators with clean diesel engines," said Ray Robb, Metro Vancouver's district director for air quality.

The fees collected would go into a fund to subsidize upgrades, and Metro has asked the federal and provincial governments to bolster it with a combined $35 million.

While new machines now have much lower emissions, older engines pre-date current rules and may keep belching away for decades to come.

Off-road diesel equipment now accounts for 41 per cent of all particulate going into the local air – five times as much as trucks and other on-road diesel vehicles.

Diesel emissions are blamed for significantly increasing the risk of cancer and respiratory and heart illness in the region.

Robb hopes the carrot-and-stick approach to off-road machinery of charging fees while offering upgrade help will cut diesel particulate emissions by as much as 50 per cent.

The diesel engine fees wouldn't apply to on-road vehicles, farm or logging equipment, trains, ships or recreational equipment.

Each piece of equipment will have to be registered with Metro Vancouver and it would have to display a label – T-0 for the most polluting tier-0 machines, T-1 for the next newer tier-1 group and T-2 and T-3 for cleaner machines that aren't subject to fees.

Robb figures contractors may come under pressure from locals if they run a T-0 machine at a construction site next to a daycare or seniors' residence.

"We're hoping that just the labeling itself will drive changes," he said. "People have a right to know if somebody's using older equipment that's higher emitting in a sensitive area."

Rick Cleghorn, an equipment salesman in Surrey, welcomes the regulations – he expects sales to pick up – but says some contractors won't be happy.

He also questions how Metro inspectors will find all the older polluting machines in the Lower Mainland.

"I like the concept," Cleghorn said. "But it's going to be very, very difficult for them to administer."

Robb said he's not worried about enforcement, adding his staff can spot an old polluting machine from 100 metres away or more.

He expects firms with cleaner equipment will blow the whistle on rivals running old machines – especially when they're bidding against each other for the same work.

According to a Metro staff report, 67 per cent of the lifetime cancer risk from air pollution facing area residents is due to diesel particulate.

Fine particulate from diesel exhaust can penetrate deep into the lungs, and provide a pathway for other toxins like benzene and formaldehyde to enter the blood stream.

Metro's move to regulate off-road diesel emissions will break new ground in B.C.

Robb admits a crackdown in Metro Vancouver may simply push the older, most polluting machines to other parts of the province, including the Fraser Valley.

"They will want to protect their people the same as we want to protect our people," he said.

It makes sense to move first in the most urbanized part of B.C., Robb added.

"There's more lives to save, more health care dollars that will be spent here."

Metro officials have asked for feedback by Oct. 30 on the discussion paper.

Any fees and new rules would come back to the Metro Vancouver board for a vote, likely early next year.