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Title: Feds announce fuel-use standards for commercial trucks (mule teams hit the road)
Source:
Houston Business Journal
URL Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/ ... se-standards-for.html?page=all
Published: Aug 9, 2011
Author: Matt Joyce
Post Date: 2011-08-09 17:22:41 by Hondo68
Keywords: contribute to climate change, impact on small-business truck, drive up the cost of trucks
Views: 270
President Barack Obama’s announcement Tuesday of the nation’s first-ever fuel efficiency standards for commercial trucks garnered mixed reactions from trucking industry associations. The proposed rules apply to big-rigs, heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans, and vocational vehicles such as transit buses and garbage trucks built in 2014 through 2018. The White House released a statement saying the program would save about $50 billion in fuel costs, reduce oil consumption by 530 million barrels and reduce greenhouse gas pollution by about 270 million metric tons. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency worked with the industry to develop the standards, the White House said. American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves welcomed the announcement. “While it is too early to know all the potential effects of this rule, we do know it sets us on the path to a future where we depend less on foreign oil, spend less on fuel and contribute less to climate change,” Graves said. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association , which has more than 151,000 members, criticized the proposal. It said the new rule ignores the impact on small-business trucking and focuses only on truck manufacturers. Nearly 96 percent of registered motor carriers in the country operate 20 or fewer trucks, according to the association. It said the new rule would drive up the cost of trucks for those businesses. “They also totally overlooked the most effective fuel-savings method of all,” said Joe Rajkovacz, director of regulatory affairs for the independent drivers association. “Driver training, which is responsible for 35 percent of fuel economy and which costs far less than any new technology, should have been the priority.” The proposed standard calls for tractor-trailer reductions of from 7 to 20 percent in emissions and fuel consumption over the 2010 baselines. For heavy-duty pickups, trucks and vans, the proposed standards would reduce fuel consumption by an average of 15 percent for diesel vehicles and 10 percent for gasoline vehicles.
Poster Comment: hObama's vision for the future of US trucking... 
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