Source: AFP
After cracking down on car emissions last week, President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled final pollution standards for trucks on Friday, putting vehicle emissions at the forefront of its climate crisis agenda.
The new rules announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will apply to vehicles such as trucks, school buses and garbage haulers built between 2027 and 2032 and will prevent about one billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Heavy-duty vehicles account for 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. transportation sector, itself the nation’s leading source of emissions, according to the EPA.
The finalized regulations are the “strongest national greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles in history,” said EPA chief Michael Reagan.
Under the measures, vehicle manufacturers will have the flexibility to choose which set of emissions control technologies they want to use, with options including hybrid and electric powertrains.
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Reagan said heavy vehicles are necessary to “keep our economy moving” but represent “significant contributors to transportation pollution, emissions that fuel climate change and create poor air quality in too many American communities.”
About 72 million people in the United States live near trucking routes and are more likely to be people of color or from low-income households, the EPA said.
Harmful air pollutants in truck emissions, including nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and others, can worsen serious heart and respiratory conditions.
“Today’s truck rules will improve the air we breathe and limit the pollution that causes climate change,” said Paul Billings, director of public policy at the American Lung Association.
“Performance based, technology neutral”
Last week, the Biden administration announced new standards for automakers that will require a nearly 50 percent reduction in fleet-wide emissions in 2032 compared to 2026 through increased sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and low-emission cars.
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The rules combine with other Biden programs to incentivize EV sales and build more electric vehicle charging stations and manufacturing facilities.
“Like last week’s clean car standards, the clean truck standards will be performance-based and technology neutral — so manufacturers will not be required to build any specific type of truck,” said Amanda Leland, executive director of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). welcoming the move.
“And like the clean car standards before them, the clean truck standards are expected to help strengthen American manufacturing and create jobs, especially in the growing electric vehicle market.”
But industry group American Trucking Associations (ATA) said the industry had not been given the tools it required to make the transition.
“The ATA opposes this rule in its current form because the post-2030 goals remain completely unattainable given the current state of zero-emissions technology, lack of charging infrastructure and constraints on the electric grid,” said the president and CEO. of the group, Chris Spear. .
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“The trucking industry is fully committed to the road to zero emissions, but the road to get there must be paved with common sense,” said Spear.
The total number of trucks on the road is estimated at just under 14 million, according to ATA. An analysis by EDF in December revealed that only around 13,000 of these trucks are electric, just 0.1 percent of the total fleet, making them a rare sight for now.
Source: AFP