Urge EPA to Select ‘Option 1’ for Heavy Duty Trucks & Add A Particulate Pollution Standard
The EPA has proposed new vehicle emission standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks! That’s a good thing because the last medium and heavy-duty emission standards were established in 2002, light years ago technology wise.
This important rulemaking will help to clean up and help transition the transportation sector toward lower emissions of harmful air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
Because vehicles purchased will be on the road for many years, potentially two decades, it’s critically important to start setting standards now.
Heavy-Duty 2027 and Beyond: Clean Trucks Proposed Rulemaking – (EPA-420-F-22-007, March 2022)
Comment on the Proposed Rule Here
Heavy-duty trucks and buses drive American commerce and connect people across the country. Creating cleaner trucks is an economic opportunity to support jobs and make more efficient vehicles while reducing harmful pollution. Heavy-duty trucks and buses continue to contribute significantly to air pollution at the local, regional, and national level, often disproportionally affecting communities of color and low-income populations.
A EPA’s “Clean Trucks Plan” will result in significant emissions reductions from new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, improve air quality, and addressing the climate crisis. The regulatory actions that make up the Clean Trucks Plan are as follows:
- Setting stronger nitrogen oxide (NOx) standards for heavy duty trucks beginning in 2027; and
- Tightening the “Phase 2” greenhouse gas emissions in 2027 and beyond.
The proposed standards would significantly reduce emissions of NOx from heavy-duty gasoline and diesel engines and set stronger greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles.
EPA is proposing two regulatory options. We’re asking AZPHA members to comment on the EPA rules and urge them to select Option 1, which will implement stronger NOx standards in two steps. The first improvement would be required in 2027 with a second more stringent standard 2031 (under Option 1 the 2031 NOx standard would be 90% lower than today’s standards).
We’re also urging our members to ask EPA to include emission limits on particulate pollution in addition to the NOx standards. As it stands, the current rule only sets new goals for NOx – not particulate matter. While cutting NOx emissions can cut particulate matter emissions including more stringent particulate standards will motivate engineers to ensure that both goals are achieved.
EPA’s public comment period ends Friday, May 16, 2022. It’s important that public health weigh in on the Rule because industry is pushing back.
