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SACRAMENTO — Targeting a major cause of California air pollution, state regulators approved a plan Thursday to cut soot from diesel engines 75 percent over the next decade. 

The plan imposes the toughest diesel rules in the nation, requiring state-of-the-art filters on new diesel engines sold in California and the retrofitting of most existing engines. 

The plan, approved 11-0 by the state Air Resources Board, also requires production of low-sulfur diesel fuel for engines equipped with the filters. 

The air pollution causes problems ranging from reduced visibility to respiratory illnesses and increased risk of cancer. State officials say 28,000 tons will be spewed into California’s air this year. 

“It is certainly the No. 1 airborne toxic contaminant in California,” said Jerry Martin, a board spokesman. 

The proposal’s drafters hope to equip 90 percent of the state’s 1.2 million diesel-powered engines with the filters, Martin said. 

Those that are too old, one of a kind, in poor condition or altered in such a way that it may not be possible to retrofit them will be considered on a case-by-case basis, he said. 

California is the only state with the power to adopt emissions controls. The diesel plan comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers its own set of pollution controls for diesel-powered vehicles. 

Details of the plan will be spelled out in a series of regulations that the ARB would act on over the next three years. 

There are 687,100 diesel-powered cars, trucks and buses on California roads, about 500,000 off-road diesel-run vehicles and equipment, including tractors and construction vehicles, and about 16,100 stationary diesel engines, according to the ARB. 

The staff report includes varying estimates of retrofitting costs, depending on engine type and horsepower. 

Retrofitting a 475-horsepower heavy-duty truck, for example, would cost $4,750 to $9,500. 

The cost will be borne primarily by engine owners, although there may be some government grants, Martin said. 

Stephanie Williams, director of environmental affairs for the California Trucking Association, which represents 2,500 truck owners, said her group supports retrofitting. 

But she urged the board to help lobby for legislation next year that would ease the burden on truckers by suspending the sales tax on the low-sulfur fuel until 2006 and imposing a per-truck fee to help pay for retrofitting. 

The fee would be $50 a year for California trucks and probably $15 to $20 for out-of-state trucks, depending on how many miles they travel in California per year, Williams said. 

Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents about 1,100 California growers, supported equipping new engines with the filters, but he questioned the need to retrofit tractors, bailers and other farm equipment that run on diesel. 

“How can you spend $10,000 on a tractor that only works 30 days a year?” he asked. “You have to look at it in that perspective.” 

Herbert Hunt, a farmer from Clarksburg, south of Sacramento, estimates it would cost him $15,000 to retrofit his 20-year-old tractor. 

The ARB plan is the latest development in California’s nearly 40-year effort to limit air pollution. The state already has the nation’s toughest emission requirements for gasoline-powered cars and trucks. 

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On the Net: 

Read the proposal on the Air Resources Board’s Web site http://www.arb.ca.gov/homepage.htm