Senate Republicans failed to secure their resolution aimed to prevent the EPA from enforcing its new heavy-duty truck air pollution rules.
The previous week, President Joe Biden vetoed the measure. Only 50 senators voted in favor of the Republicans’ attempt to override Biden’s veto, including one from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who is typically favorable to energy.
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Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), who sponsored the vetoed resolution, Manchin sided with Republicans and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and the bill passed the Senate 50–49 in April, whose absence would have likely resulted in a negative vote. In May, it was approved by a vote of 221–203 in the House.
Starting in 2027, new heavy-duty trucks and engines will be required to meet stricter-than-ever standards under the EPA rule that was finalized in December 2022 to reduce emissions of air pollutants, mainly nitrogen oxides, which can react with oxygen to produce smog or ozone at ground level.
It applies to semi-trucks as well as Ford F-250 pickup trucks.
The rule is the latest step the Biden administration has taken toward putting its “ambitious agenda” known as the Clean Trucks Plan into action. According to the EPA, this “ambitious agenda” will move America’s “highly polluting” heavy-duty trucking fleet toward “low-carbon and electric technologies.”
Pause Unmute Fullscreen The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) predicted that the modifications would result in annual net economic benefits totaling $29 billion. Additionally, the agency asserts that the rule’s implementation will have a number of positive effects on public health by 2045, including the prevention of up to 2,900 deaths, 6,700 visits to hospitals and emergency rooms, and 18,000 cases of childhood asthma.
Republicans were still skeptical. Since nearly every product is transported by truck at some point, they argued that the restrictions on trucking would only make life harder for average Americans by pointing to the increased transportation costs associated with the changes.
Heavy Costs of New Technology The EPA estimated that every new vehicle would cost between $2,568 and $8,304 for the technology required to meet the new rule’s standards. However, the American Truck Dealers Association estimated that the regulatory mandates would cost about $40,000 more to buy a new truck.
On the Senate floor before the vote on June 21, Fischer stated, “You are asking the American people to foot the bill when you force truckers to purchase new, expensive equipment in the name of climate.”
Due to the enormous inflationary burdens, this rule will place on the trucking industry, any product transported by trucks—food headed to your local grocery store or something you purchased from Amazon—will cost more.
It will have an impact on every agricultural producer and local business. These higher freight costs will negatively affect your local economy in states like Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Nebraska, California, or Montana—all of which are energy- or agriculture-heavy states. Not to mention the 3 million commercial truck drivers in the United States.
She also argued that the EPA rule might not even achieve its stated goal of lowering air pollution because businesses are likely to keep their older, more polluting trucks despite the rising cost of newer models.
Fischer stated, “The administration is making an ineffective climate statement at the expense of the livelihoods of millions of Americans.”
Delaware senator Thomas Carper, who is in charge of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, argued that the standards could be managed and were developed with the interests of stakeholders in mind.
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He stated, “These standards are achievable and provide industry with predictability that the blunt instrument of the CRA would undercut.” During the rulemaking process, the EPA listened to various stakeholders and came up with feasible and cost-effective standards for fleet operators and manufacturers.
Carper warned that the Republicans’ effort would set a precedent and “prevent the agency from ever issuing similar standards in the future” if it was successful.
