GOP Senators Seek to Overturn EPA’s New Truck Emissions Standards
by Josh Fisher (Fleet Owner) The resolution, backed by 34 Senate Republicans, challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s more stringent regulations on heavy-duty vehicle emissions. The bill’s lead sponsor says the EPA’s rules will just keep older equipment on the road longer.
A group of Republican senators is trying to overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s more stringent emissions rules for heavy-duty truck and engine manufacturers.
Led by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), 34 senators introduced legislation on Feb. 9 to overturn the new EPA rule that goes into effect for model year 2027 commercial vehicles. The Congressional Review Act resolution was first reported by The Hill.
The review act allows a simple majority in both chambers to overturn the executive branch action, such as federal rulemaking. While the GOP has a majority in the U.S. House, the Democrats have a two-member advantage in the Senate.
“This aggressive EPA rule—which will hit mom-and-pop truck operations the hardest—is also ineffective because it incentivizes operators to keep using older, higher-emitting trucks for longer,” Fischer said in an issued statement. “During a period of high inflation and supply chain disruptions, the last thing this country needs is more expensive freight costs and fewer truckers. I am proud to be leading a large coalition of my colleagues to push back against the Biden Administration’s obsession with excessive climate regulations.”
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After announcing the new emissions rules in December, the EPA finalized regulations in January. They would become official in late March, giving OEMs less than four years to apply the rules to heavy-duty trucks and engines by model year 2027.
To reduce air pollution—including pollutants that create ozone and particulate matter—from large trucks, emission reductions will increase over time as more new, cleaner vehicles enter the market, according to the EPA.
“We estimate that the final rule will reduce [NOx] emissions from heavy-duty vehicles in 2040 by more than 40%; by 2045, a year by which most of the regulated fleet will have turned over, heavy-duty NOX emissions will be almost 50% lower than they would have been without this action,” according to an EPA summary within the final rulemaking.
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The new rules are the first part of EPA’s three-step Clean Truck Plan, which will be followed by the proposed Phase 3 GHG standards for heavy-duty vehicles also beginning in model year 2027 and multipollutant standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles starting with that same model year.
The final EPA commercial vehicle regulation includes new, more stringent emissions standards covering a more comprehensive range of heavy-duty engine operating conditions than today’s standards. According to an EPA rule summary published on its website, these stricter emissions standards must be met for a longer time when these engines operate on the road. READ MORE
Control of Air Pollution From New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards (Federal Register)
Fischer Leads Push Against Biden Emissions Rule Hurting Truckers (Office of U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE))
Congress, Associations Continue to Challenge EPA Emission Reduction Plans (ACT News)
Excerpt from ACT News: After seeing support through the Senate this past April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure to overturn a rule to reduce emissions from heavy-duty commercial trucks this week.
The U.S. Environmental Protection agency rule, titled the “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards,” calls for the reduction of NOx emissions of approximately 80% from the current standard for model-year 2027 vehicles and beyond. This has raised more than a few eyebrows across the industry. In early May, Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, addressed the EPA during a public hearing.
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The EPA’s final rule, married with the recent advancement of California’s Advanced Clean Fleets Rule, is putting other associations on the defense as well, including those that represent heavy-duty vehicle and powertrain OEMs. The Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) recently released a statement on the EPA’s proposed Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3.
“Without electricity recharging and hydrogen refueling infrastructures in place, trucking fleets won’t be able to operate zero-emission vehicles and, thus, won’t make the needed investment to purchase them,” said EMA President Jed Mandel. “To successfully achieve a zero-emission future, the infrastructures needed to allow commercial ZEVs to complete the important work of hauling the nation’s freight must be in place and trucking fleets must see a positive business case to invest capital in their purchase. We need a whole of government approach to solve the problem and meet the challenge.”
While the recently passed measure to overturn EPA’s finalized rule has made it through both the Senate and House, the White House has already stated that President Biden plans to veto it. READ MORE
