WASHINGTON—The Obama administration Friday proposed new
standards for big trucks aimed at lowering fuel costs and cutting
carbon emissions as part of President Barack Obama's broad
climate-change agenda.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation
Department jointly announced a suite of draft standards for big
vehicles ranging from garbage trucks to 18-wheelers to vans and
buses to heavy-duty pickup trucks.
"We're delivering big time on President Obama's call to cut
carbon pollution," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Friday in a
statement. "With emission reductions weighing in at 1 billion tons,
this proposal will save consumers, businesses and truck owners
money; and at the same time spur technology innovation and
job-growth, while protecting Americans' health and our environment
over the long haul."
The administration is proposing two broad categories of
standards, one for the front part of big trucks, called tractors,
and one for trailers that big semi-trucks and other trucks
haul.
The tractor standard will require that a truck built in 2021 and
beyond will be up to 24% more fuel efficient and emit up to 24%
fewer carbon emissions than an equivalent truck built in 2018,
according to EPA.
In addition to those standards, EPA and the Transportation
Department are also, for the first time ever, regulating trailers
that are part of 18-wheelers and other big hauling trucks, which
will apply to certain models beginning in 2018 through 2027. This
would save an additional 8% in fuel and carbon emissions compared
with an average trailer built in 2017, EPA says.
The rules are a follow-up to the first-ever federal standards
for big trucks that the Obama administration announced in 2011 that
apply to models built between 2014 and 2018. EPA says these kinds
of big trucks account for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions from the
transportation sector but account for 5% of all vehicles on the
road. Big trucks make up about 6% of overall U.S. greenhouse gas
emissions, according to EPA.
The draft standards, expected to be complete sometime next year
after a public comment period, are part of a broader regulatory
push by the Obama administration to address climate change in the
absence of congressional action and to cement the issue as a legacy
of Mr. Obama's time in the White House.
The trucking industry has been generally supportive of these
standards, in large part because they help save companies in fuel
money, one of the biggest costs the sector faces.
"Cummins supports the proposed [EPA and Transportation
Department] rule and believes it will help our industry grow in a
more sustainable way, which is a win for our customers and win for
the environment," said Tom Linebarger, chairman and chief executive
of Cummins Inc., one of the world's largest manufacturers of diesel
engines.
EPA said Friday the industry could recoup its costs in two years
for certain trucks with trailers, and between three and six years
for smaller trucks, including vans and buses.
Write to Amy Harder at amy.harder@wsj.com
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