From The Jersey Sierran, July - September 2022
REPORT FROM TRENTON
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) draft rule to reduce heavy duty truck emissions may be too little, too late. The EPA stopped accepting public comment in May 2022 on the plan to phase in controls for truck ozone, greenhouse gas (GHG), and particulate matter. The draft rule would be the EPA’s first to restrict heavy truck pollution since 2001, but to cushion the impact of related manufacturing costs, the agency is moving slowly. That delay could be very costly for human health and climate stability.
The EPA would require just 1.5 percent of new trucks to be zero emissions vehicles by 2027. Fortunately for New Jersey, the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule adopted by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection in December 2021 would start this process much earlier, with at least 5 percent of new trucks sold in 2025 being zero emissions vehicles or qualified as such by pollution offsets acquired by the manufacturer. Whereas New Jersey is aiming for roughly 55 percent of new truck sales to be zero emissions by 2035, the EPA plan would not reach this goal before 2040.
As with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) regulation, New Jersey is again ahead of the EPA. In New Jersey, trucks represent about 20 percent of transportation sector GHG. Although New Jersey will benefit from the ACT, federal action is necessary to move truck manufacturers into a zero-emissions market. Climate action cannot wait, and this proposed EPA rule must be done correctly to help with the effort.