The Biden administration finalized new regulations setting stringent greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses starting in 2026.
The rules aim to cut over a billion tons of emissions and provide large health and economic benefits by requiring more zero-emissions vehicles be produced each year through 2032.
Supporters say it will reduce the transportation sector’s large carbon footprint and address the climate crisis, while opponents argue it will raise costs for trucking companies.
“EPA’s standards complement President Biden’s unprecedented investment in our workers and communities to reduce harmful emissions, while strengthening our manufacturing capacity for the transportation technologies of the future,” White House Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said. “By tackling pollution from heavy-duty vehicles, we can unlock extraordinary public health, climate, and economic gains.”
“In finalizing these emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, EPA is significantly cutting pollution from the hardest-working vehicles on the road,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said. “Building on our recently finalized rule for light- and medium-duty vehicles, EPA’s strong and durable vehicle standards respond to the urgency of the climate crisis by making deep cuts in emissions from the transportation sector.”
“With the climate crisis underway and many of our communities facing unprecedented fires, droughts and floods, it’s crucial that truck manufacturers get into the fast lane with zero-emission trucks to deliver the climate, health, and economic benefits we deserve,” Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign director Katherine Garcia said.
The trucking industry and oil producers criticized the regulations as unworkable and said they will take the administration to court.
Republican lawmakers also oppose the move as adding costs during high inflation.
“Small business truckers, who happen to care about clean air for themselves and their kids as much as anyone, make up 96% of trucking,” said Todd Spencer, president of Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “Yet, this administration seems dead set on regulating every local mom-and-pop business out of existence with its flurry of unworkable environmental mandates.”
“This is yet another example of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government effort to eliminate choices for American consumers, businesses and industries,” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President and CEO Chet Thompson and American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers said. “There is significant uncertainty regarding the technological and infrastructure capability to comply with this rule, which may threaten the speed and cost of goods moving throughout the country.”
“In the midst of sustained, crippling inflation, President Biden is choosing to add more regulatory dead weight onto our economy and our critical supply chains,” Sen. Dan Sullivan said. “Hard-working families across the country will pay the price if this rule is allowed to stand. The cost of this rule will be felt in the rising price of gas, bread, eggs and other life essentials.”
Adoption of zero-emissions heavy vehicles is currently less than 1%, and manufacturers warned demand may not meet the standards’ requirements as quickly as estimated.
Finalizing the heavy-duty standards is a major part of Biden’s efforts to transition the U.S. transportation sector away from fossil fuels.
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