EPA announces new emissions standards; trucking groups react

The Environmental Protection Agency today announced a final rule the agency said sets stronger standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles beginning in model year 2027. Major trucking organizations reacted, saying the industry has already done plenty to reduce pollution, and the new rules will be expensive, and overly burdensome, especially for small trucking businesses.

The EPA said the new standards set in “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3,” will apply to heavy-duty vocational vehicles including delivery trucks, refuse haulers, public utility trucks, transit, shuttle, school buses, and tractors such as day cabs and sleeper cabs on tractor-trailer trucks.

The agency said the new standards are technology-neutral and performance-based, allowing each manufacturer to choose what set of emissions control technologies is best suited for them and the needs of their customers. They take effect in 60 days.

The trucking industry's leading advocacy organizations object to the new standards. Here's what they said: