Bill seeks lower truck, bus emissions
A state lawmaker from Rosendale has introduced a bill calling for lowered emissions from trucks and buses.
A state lawmaker from Rosendale has introduced a bill calling for lowered emissions from trucks and buses.
N.Y. Sen. Jen Metzger, a Democrat, is pushing the bill that would direct the state Department of Environmental Conservation to establish rules for lower emissions from the vehicles.
“The technology exists to transport goods and people without harming public health or worsening climate change, but we need to put the appropriate framework in place to get more clean trucks and buses on the road in our state,” Metzger said in a statement. “This is common-sense legislation that will keep New York on track to meet its climate goals while addressing the serious public health costs associated with air pollution from trucks and buses.”
Metzger said her bill would expand New York’s Zero-Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) program for cars and light-duty trucks to include medium- and heavyduty trucks and buses, a step that was recently taken in California.
The program would require truck manufacturers to increase the percentage of clean vehicles they sell over time, as is done for other vehicles, the senator’s office said.
“The transportation sector accounts for more than a third of New York’s greenhouse gas emissions, the main cause of climate change, and the shift to clean vehicles in all categories will be essential for meeting the state’s targets for an overall reduction in emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050,” a Metzger press release said. “From a public health perspective, air pollution from diesel trucks and buses contributes to asthma and elevated cancer risks ...”
New York’s current program requires automakers to maintain a certain
number of credits, accrued through the sale of zeroand low-emission vehicles in the state in proportion to sales of non-electric vehicles. A similar credit system would be applied to truck manufacturers in line with standards recently adopted in California, Metzger said.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said Metzger’s proposal would help toward reaching climate change goals.
“(Metzger’s bill) will put more zero-emissions trucks on our roads,” Ryan said in the release. “Defending and protecting our environment and introducing innovative ways to address the climate crisis is one of my top priorities, and this is an important step forward towards a greener, more sustainable future here in Ulster County and beyond.”