Biden facing calls to toughen rules on big rigs’ pollution
that he’s outlined tough new emissions requirements for carmakers, President Joe Biden is facing pressure to enact similarly stringent rules for big trucks still operating under standards that environmentalists say are too lax.
Climate change activists are urging Biden to match requirements California proposed last year that call for truck companies to cut nitrogen oxide emissions from heavy-duty trucks by roughly 75 percent below current standards beginning in 2024 and 90 percent in 2027.
Biden has pledged a “Clean Trucks Plan” to encourage technological development and impose regulations to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, but the rules aren’t expected to be finalized until next year.
Heavy-duty trucks make up 10 percent of the vehicles on the road but are responsible for 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and higher percentages of other pollutants, according to the Sierra Club.
“We need federal standards to protect communities across the nation; setting standards with aggressive targets would deliver vital health benefits for those living near warehouses, highways and ports,” said Katherine García, acting director of the Sierra
Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign.
Environmentalists are urging Biden to make truck emissions a priority after he stood on the South Lawn of the White House this month, surrounded by electric and hybrid cars made by U.S. manufacturers, and said he was imposing tough new regulations for carmakers. His plan requires them to produce fuel-efficient fleets of cars, SUVs and pickups that average 52 mpg by 2026. He also announced a target that half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. would be capable of emissionsfree driving by the end of the decade.
At the event, Biden framed the new car rules and his forthcomNow ing effort to crack down on truck emissions as a crucial part of his climate agenda.
“It’s about leveraging once-ina-generation investments and a whole-of-government effort to lift up American autoworkers and strengthen” U.S. leadership on clean car and truck technology, he said.
But the government is playing catch-up on regulating truck emissions: That’s partly because of the different nature of big rigs that haul tons of freight and have their own regulatory yardsticks.
Additionally, Congress has authorized the regulation of car pollution since the 1970s, but the first standards for greenhouse gas emissions from trucks were issued in 2014, and the first two years were voluntary.
“It’s critical to continue to reduce pollutants from these big trucks and commercial trucks that are crisscrossing the roads, often in very close proximity to communities,” said Simon Mui, deputy director for clean vehicles and fuels at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The sector is too big to ignore.”
Truckers have a vested interest in keeping fuel consumption low “since every gallon of fuel saved reduces the cost of moving freight and the price of consumer goods,” said Glen Kedzie, vice president and energy and environmental counsel for the American Trucking Associations, which lobbies for major truck companies.
“Our industry moves nearly 12 billion tons of freight annually. … And our carriers have a vested interest in fuel efficiency because fuel is our industry’s secondlargest expense after labor,” Kedzie said.
Biden says he will issue a pair of major regulations over the next three years as part of his Clean Trucks Plan. The first will be finalized next year for model year 2027 trucks. A second will seek even steeper reductions for model year 2030.