WASHINGTON — A Republican senator from Nebraska is working to halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) strict new regulations against heavy-duty truck emissions, which are due to begin in March.
Sen. Deb Fischer’s Congressional Review Act resolution has 33 co-sponsors.
In December, the EPA announced that the requirements in its final rule will lower emissions of NOX and other air pollutants (PM, hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and air toxics) beginning no later than model year 2027.
“The final program includes new emission standards that are significantly more stringent and that cover a wider range of heavy-duty engine operating conditions compared to today’s standards; further, the final program requires these more stringent emissions standards to be met for a longer period of when these engines operate on the road,” according to the EPA. “Heavy-duty vehicles and engines are important contributors to concentrations of ozone and particulate matter and their resulting threat to public health, which includes premature death, respiratory illness (including childhood asthma), cardiovascular problems and other adverse health impacts.”
In a news release, Fischer said that the Biden administration is “saddling the trucking industry with an onerous regulation that would jack up vehicle costs and hurt good paying jobs.”
Further, Fischer wrote that “this aggressive EPA rule – which will hit mom and pop truck operations the hardest – is also ineffective because it incentivizes operators to keep using older, higher-emitting trucks for longer. During a period of high inflation and supply chain disruptions, the last thing this country needs is more expensive freight costs and fewer truckers. I am proud to be leading a large coalition of my colleagues to push back against the Biden administration’s obsession with excessive climate regulations.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Driver’s Association (OOIDA) supports Fischer and her colleagues’ efforts.
“If small-business truckers can’t afford the new, compliant trucks, they’re going to stay with older, less-efficient trucks, or leave the industry entirely,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “Once again, EPA has largely ignored the warnings and concerns raised by truckers in this latest rule.”
Danny Schnautz, president of Clark Freight Lines in Pasadena, Texas, was quoted in a news release issued by Fischer’s office on the issue.
“The prior years of over-ambitious emission standards have already created unreliable equipment for many years and even driven one of the primary engine manufacturers out of the on-road industry,” Schnautz said. “These ongoing emission systems failures are devastating.”
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
This is nothing new from this ludicrous administration.
They create legislation by people who know nothing about Diesel powered vehicles or the the technology needed to meet their impossible goals.
Their only goal is to drive private business I to extinction and force the the trucking industry into unreliable,expensive electric vehicles.
There is likely a group or “desk jockies” who never been near a truck let along in one, who have been influenced by some greed lead corporate thing tank into believing “they can save” the world by forcing trucks to not be so “free” to move around and deliver the goods they “need”.