The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced new proposed federal vehicle emissions standards on April 12.
The proposed emissions standards are for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles for model year (MY) 2027 and beyond. The EPA states they would significantly reduce harmful air pollution, unlocking significant benefits for public health. At the same time, the EPA adds, the proposed standards would lower maintenance costs and deliver significant fuel savings for drivers and truck operators.
“Reducing our industry’s carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions is an important and worthwhile goal to pursue,” said Ben Frech, NGWA’s public relations and government affairs manager. “But as an industry that provides water to more than 30 percent of the country, we must ensure these new regulations do not impede our ability to provide our services at an affordable price to consumers.
“NGWA will continue to monitor how these standards might impact the production, affordability, and effectiveness of drilling rigs and other vehicles and will advocate for reasonable and impactful regulations.”
The first set of proposed standards announced, the “Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium Duty Vehicles,” builds on the EPA’s existing emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks for MYs 2023-2026. The proposal retains the regulatory design of previous EPA standards for light-duty vehicles, but leverages advances in clean car technology to further reduce both climate pollution and smog- and soot-forming emissions.
Between 2027-2055, the total projected net benefits of the light- and medium-duty proposal range from $850 billion to $1.6 trillion. The proposal is expected to avoid 7.3 billion tons of CO2 emissions through 2055, equivalent to eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions from the entire current U.S. transportation sector for four years.
The second set of proposed standards announced today, the “Greenhouse Gas Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles — Phase 3,” would apply to heavy-duty vocational vehicles (such as delivery trucks, refuse haulers, dump trucks, public utility trucks, transit, shuttle, school buses, etc.) and trucks typically used to haul freight. These standards would complement the criteria pollutant standards that the EPA finalized in December 2022 and represent the third phase of EPA’s Clean Trucks Plan.
Like the light- and medium-duty proposal, the heavy-duty proposal uses performance-based standards that enable manufacturers to achieve compliance efficiently based on the composition of their fleets.
The projected net benefits of the heavy-duty proposal range from $180 billion to $320 billion. The proposal is projected to avoid 1.8 billion tons of CO2 through 2055, equivalent to eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions from the entire current U.S. transportation sector for an entire year.
The proposals will be published in the Federal Register and available for public review and comment.