As Connecticut emissions effort idles, EPA moving ahead with diesel rules
After Connecticut truckers begged the state to wait for the federal government to tighten diesel emissions limits rather than going it alone, that initiative is now revving up — with the likelihood of many trucks on Connecticut roads needing replacement engines in six years or destined otherwise for the junkyard.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is modeling its Cleaner Trucks Initiative in part on a law California passed last year for emissions standards, which are detailed in a 500page document published this past October.
The Connecticut General Assembly did not act this year on legislation that would have created new standards for trucks using the California regulations as a road map.
State Attorney General William Tong calls the Cleaner Trucks Initiative “long overdue” in a joint letter alongside his counterparts in New York and New Jersey to EPA chief Michael Regan and Gina McCarthy, President Joe Biden’s national climate adviser.
A onetime environmental commissioner in Connecticut, McCarthy was EPA administrator between 2013 and 2017 when the agency began requesting input from the industry and environmentalists on how to address nitrogen oxides emissions from diesel fuel.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy pressed as well for an interstate solution by the Biden administration, rather than having states to follow California’s lead on their own initiative.
Just over half of trucks on Connecticut roadways were manufactured prior to 2010, when EPA last stiffened diesel standards significantly, according to Joe Sculley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut.
“Our industry has made tremendous environmental progress,” Sculley said Thursday. “The Cleaner Trucks Initiative — that’s an EPA rule-making and we have no problem with that whatsoever. We think emissions standards for trucks need to be done on a national level.”
How much to solve a $105M problem?
The nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust are a significant part of the stew that forms groundlevel ozone along with heat, sunlight and volatile organic compounds found in any number of other chemicals. While factories and power plants contribute significantly to smog — western wildfires as well — trucks remain a major culprit, particularly when bogged down in traffic, which limits the effectiveness of their on-board systems to control emissions at low speeds.
The Cleaner Trucks Initiative will focus initially on heavy-duty trucks — those in classes 6-8 — which EPA says in the aggregate produce 35 percent higher particulate matter containing nitrogen oxides than smaller vehicles, despite being far fewer in number.
Just under 5,450 tractor trucks were registered to Connecticut owners in 2019, according to the Federal Highway Administration, of more than 1.5 million trucks of all types, from pickups and SUVs to box trucks and heavy-duty equipment like concrete mixers.
But as the gateway to New England via Interstate 95, I-84 and I-91, truckers are often just passing through Connecticut en route to New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island or points beyond.
In 2021, Connecticut had 21 days when ozone levels crossed into red-line territory for eight hours or more, nearly as many days as the other five New England states combined, according to EPA data.
High levels of ozone can trigger asthma attacks and intensify other respiratory problems.
In 2019, Connecticut emergency rooms treated more than 17,300 people for severe symptoms of asthma alone, according to the most recent count published by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Add in people who had extended hospital stays, and acute care for asthma added up to more than $105 million in medical bills that year, or about $6,000 for each episode, on average.
But Sculley notes that new trucks carry sticker shock as well for independent operators — anywhere from $110,000 to $125,000 on average, according to varying studies. He said that new regulations should be accompanied by financial assistance for any truck owners who have to upgrade their vehicles ahead of any schedule they had in place to do so.
Connecticut has been applying some of the $55 million in funds it was allocated from a 2015 settlement with Volkswagen toward diesel emission reductions, awarding grants to varying truck and bus operators to purchase replacement vehicles, as well as diesel engines aboard vessels.
But the pot is not nearly big enough to help all, with about $750,000 to be disbursed in the latest round of applications due next week.
‘A lot of forward-thinking fleets’
In a May study of the possible impact on truck sales for any new regulations, EPA found that prior emissions standards resulted in some front-loading of purchases by fleet operators and a brief lull after new regulations took effect, but with no statistically significant impact otherwise over the long term on the truck manufacturing industry.
Daimler sells more of the heaviest class 8 tractor trailer trucks in the United States than any other company, according to research published by Statista, with nearly 72,000 class 8 trucks sold under the Freightliner logo in 2020. Next were the Kenworth and Peterbilt brands of Paccar, which combined for more than 58,000 trucks sold last year.
The new standard could impact as well the market for used trucks, which has been booming this year as the COVID-19 pandemic stretches supplies and labor thin for manufacturers.