One of my favorite cartoons from the New Yorker shows a child sitting on a doctor's table starring down the business end of a syringe. The doctor holds the boys arm and says, “This is going to hurt like hell.” I remember sitting on a similar table early in life scared stiff that the vaccination I was about to get would bring lots of pain for a long time.

Both my father and the doctor assured me that the pain of measles, mumps, polio and whatever else I was poked for, would be much greater than that of a vaccination. And they said, “It will only hurt for a little while.”

Of coarse they were right. And of course I tried the same logic when my boys were small and needing vaccination. (No, that logic didn't work any better on their young minds than it did on mine.) As a parent I wish I could have taken the vaccination and my children still reaped the benefits.

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing its own syringe. The aggregate industry — along with construction and agriculture — is seated on the table awaiting the business end.

The EPA recently wrapped up public hearings on its proposed offroad diesel emissions rule. The proposed rule is sweeping. At full maturity in 2014, it will eliminate 90% of the particulate matter and nitrogen oxide and more than 99% of the sulfur in diesel exhaust. To reach these goals both fuel and engines will have to be modified. EPA estimates the cost of cleaner fuel to be about five cents more per gallon than current offroad diesel. The cost of engine modification is trickier to estimate, but EPA says it should add less than 3% to the cost of the vehicle. Of course until it's done, the cost will remain unknown.

If passed, this rule will have some associated pain. Engine manufacturers and petroleum companies will first feel that pain. It will likely be passed down to those who buy machines and fuel, and then to those who buy the things made with those machines and fuel. But that's a pain that will only hurt for a little while.

The upside to the proposed rule is hard to ignore. EPA says that the engines this rule would affect produce 44% of the nation's mobile source diesel particulate matter and 12% of the nitrogen oxide. These levels are likely higher in urban areas.

EPA says that by 2030 the emission reduction will annually prevent more than 9,600 premature deaths, 16,000 heart attacks, 5,700 asthma-related emergency room visits by children, 260,000 respiratory problems in children and close to one million lost workdays.

Yes, the initial shot of the new offroad emissions rule will hurt — and it may even hurt like hell. But this is one instance where we have a chance to take vaccine for our kids and let them reap the benefits.

Questions or comments? rmarkley@primediabusiness.com, 312/609-4289