Source: ACT News

After seeing support through the Senate this past April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure to overturn a rule to reduce emissions from heavy-duty commercial trucks this week.

The U.S. Environmental Protection agency rule, titled the “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards,” calls for the reduction of NOx emissions of approximately 80% from the current standard for model-year 2027 vehicles and beyond. This has raised more than a few eyebrows across the industry. In early May, Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, addressed the EPA during a public hearing.

“All of these regulations maintain an impractical approach to achieving emissions reductions that discounts the contributions of the trucking industry, ignores realities from previous flawed emissions rulemakings, and does not account for the economic impacts on small trucking businesses,” said Pugh. “Clean air is a priority for everyone, including truckers, but the technology used in heavy-duty trucks to improve air quality has to be affordable and reliable. Small-business truckers and owner-operators should not be used as test cases for trialing new technology while pricing them out of business in the process.”

In an April statement from the American Trucking Associations, CEO Chris Spear said that while the ATA agrees that reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving fuel efficiency are important goals that the industry must attain, the industry association believes “any regulation must be practical, achievable, and based on sound science.”

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