EPA finalizes strict truck emission standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published a final rule setting the strictest truck emission standards at the federal level, requiring a quarter of sleeper cab tractors to be “zero-emission” by 2032.

On March 29, the EPA announced its final rule formally known as “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3.” The new truck emission standards apply to heavy-duty vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032.

Commonly referred to as “zero-emission” trucks, electric and hydrogen-fueled trucks are actually “zero-direct-emission” vehicles, as defined by the Department of Energy. Although emission measured on a tailpipe basis (direct) may be zero, emission related to battery production, distribution, recycling and disposal do not have a net-zero result.

Truck emission standards vary by vehicle type. Light heavy-duty (Class 2b-5) vocational trucks, for example, have the most stringent standards, requiring 60% zero-emission by 2032.

According to the EPA, the final truck emission standards will avoid about 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emission from 2027 through 2055. The federal government also claims that the heavy-duty industry will see annualized savings of $3.5 billion compared to annualized costs of about $1.1 billion.

Stricter truck emission standards have been criticized by the trucking industry and federal lawmakers.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association called the latest truck emission standards an “assault of small business truck drivers.”

“Small-business truckers, who happen to care about clean air for themselves and their kids as much as anyone, make up 96% of trucking. Yet this administration seems dead set on regulating every local mom and pop business out of existence with its flurry of unworkable environmental mandates,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a statement. “This administration appears more focused on placating extreme environmental activists who have never been inside a truck than the small-business truckers who ensure that Americans have food in their grocery stores and clothes on their backs. If you bought it, a trucker brought it.”

The American Trucking Associations claims the new truck emission standards have “unachievable targets” with consequences for the U.S. supply chain.

“ATA opposes this rule in its current form because the post-2030 targets remain entirely unachievable given the current state of zero-emission technology, the lack of charging infrastructure and restrictions on the power grid,” ATA President Chris Spear said in a statement. “Given the wide range of operations required of our industry to keep the economy running, a successful emission regulation must be technology neutral and cannot be one-size-fits-all. Any regulation that fails to account for the operational realities of trucking will set the industry and America’s supply chain up for failure.”

Last summer, a bipartisan coalition of more than 30 members of Congress issued a letter to the EPA expressing concerns over the proposed truck emission standards.

Like the trucking industry, the coalition called the rule rushed.

“EPA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking with a comment period of only 50 days and has denied requests for extension,” the letter states. “By comparison, EPA took five years to finalize the Phase 2 GHG rule. There is much at stake for the truck industry, its employees, and the economy, and the EPA should take the time needed to carefully consider the concerns raised during the rulemaking.”

Legal and congressional challenges

EPA’s new truck emission standards will likely face challenges both in Congress and in the courtroom.

In a joint statement, the American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers called on Congress to overturn the rule while indicating they are poised to take legal action themselves.

“By moving forward with an extreme reliance on so-called heavy-duty zero emission vehicles, this rule disincentivizes the development of other fuel-based technologies—including American-made renewable diesel—that are working in today’s heavy-duty fleet to reduce emissions more quickly and at a lower cost,” the oil and gas associations said in a statement. “This misguided rule should be overturned by Congress, but short of that, our organizations are prepared to explore challenges in court.”

On the same day as EPA’s announcement, Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Ark.), along with Reps. John James (R-Mich.) and Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) announced their intention to begin Congressional Review Act efforts to overturn both the new truck emission standards and new emission standards for light-duty vehicles announced about a week prior.

“Biden’s EV mandates are delusional. American consumers and workers will pay the price for his administration’s attempt to get rid of internal-combustion engines,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “His EV mandate for heavy trucks will make everything more expensive as it wreaks havoc on our nation’s supply chain and makes us more reliant on China.”

Sullivan and Fulcher will be introducing the Congressional Review Act resolution for the heavy-duty vehicles rule. The Congressional Review Act resolutions will be introduced once both rules are submitted to Congress. Sullivan and Ricketts are both members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. James and Fulcher are both members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. LL