EPA sets course for cleaner trucks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan that aims to further reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from truck engines.

   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan on Tuesday that aims to further reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from truck engines. 
   While NOx emissions from trucks have fallen more than 40 percent, it’s estimated that these vehicles will be responsible for one-third of these emissions within the transportation sector in 2025, if left unchecked.
   EPA last revised NOx standards for on-highway heavy-duty trucks and engines in January 2001. The agency is not required by statute to update the standard. Specifics have yet to be worked out, but EPA plans to publish a proposed rule in early 2020.
   “Through rulemaking and a comprehensive review of existing requirements, we will capitalize on these gains and incentivize new technologies to ensure our heavy-duty trucks are clean and remain a competitive method of transportation,” said Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
    The agency announced the Clean Trucks Initiative (CTI) in response to petitions submitted two years ago by 20 state and local government agencies from across the country and other organizations seeking to reduce truck emissions.
   The EPA said its notice of proposed rulemaking in 2020 will initiate new standards for truck engine emissions standards starting with the 2024 model year. 
   “This time frame is consistent with the lead-time requirements of the Clean Air Act and is aligned with a milestone implementation year for the EPA heavy-duty Phase 2 GHG (Greenhouse Gas) program,” the agency said.
   The EPA said its goal is to develop a nationwide program, which would streamline compliance for truck manufacturers. The agency will develop the proposal with input from government and industry stakeholders, including heavy-duty vehicle and engine manufacturers, the California Air Resources Board, labor groups, technology suppliers, environmental nongovernmental organizations, state and local air quality agencies, truck dealerships, trucking fleets and truck drivers and owners.
   “CTI will cut unnecessary red tape while simplifying certification of compliance requirements for heavy-duty trucks and engines,” the agency said. 
   The truck manufacturing and operating industries are lining up behind the EPA’s Clean Truck Initiative.
   “Manufacturers welcome EPA’s announcement of a stricter national emissions standard for heavy-duty truck engines,” said Ross Eisenberg, vice president for energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, in a statement. “This new rule will provide manufacturers with additional regulatory certainty and contribute to the cleaner environment we’ve promised to help deliver.” 
    The Frederick, Md.-based Diesel Technology Forum also supports the Clean Trucks Initiative and said, “Along with achieving greater fuel efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions, expectations are high that the future of long-haul commercial trucking will have an even more compelling choice in the next generation of diesel technology.”
   The forum noted that the diesel engine industry already has made significant progress since 2000 to reduce emissions, adding that “it would take more than 60 of today’s generation of diesel-powered heavy-duty commercial trucks to equal the emissions of a single U.S. model made in the pre-2000 era.”