The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule Tuesday that will impose stricter emissions standards on new heavy-duty vehicles, a regulation that will significantly raise operating costs for truckers, experts and industry representatives told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The new rules are intended to phase out older trucks that emit more nitrogen dioxide and will push drivers to purchase electric trucks or newer models of diesel trucks that do not produce as much nitrogen dioxide when they burn fuel, according to the EPA. "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," Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer told trade publication Freight Waves.
"Once again, EPA has largely ignored the warnings and concerns raised by truckers in this latest rule."
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said that the rule would protect "Historically overburdened communities," that are disproportionately affected by trucking emissions as truck freight routes are often located near "Vulnerable populations," according to the press release.
Nitrogen dioxide gas can exacerbate respiratory diseases like asthma and form acid rain in the atmosphere which can damage lakes and forests, according to the EPA. "The EPA is happy to go easy on big trucking since they support regulations that will harm their smaller competitors far more," Steve Milloy, Energy and Environmental Legal Institute senior legal fellow and former Trump administration EPA transition team member, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The EPA's final rule is the first step in its "Clean Trucks Plan" which seeks to heavily regulate trucks' emissions to push drivers to adopt electric trucks.
The agency's trucking rules are less strict than California's regulations as heavy vehicles in the state must cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 75% starting in 2024, and 90% starting in 2027, according to a California Air Resource Board rule.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/25/epas-regulation-imperil-trucking-industry/
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