President Obama Announces First Ever Fuel Economy Standards for Commercial Vehicles

[ProSense]

President Obama Announces First Ever Fuel Economy Standards for Commercial Vehicles

Posted by Colleen Curtis

President Obama today will announce new fuel efficiency standards that will save American businesses that operate and own commercial vehicles approximately $50 billion in fuel costs over the life of the program. These work trucks, buses, and other medium- and heavy duty vehicleswill be required to meet fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for the first time ever beginning in 2014.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the standards in close coordination with the companies that met with the President today as well as other stakeholders, following requests from companies to develop this program.

“While we were working to improve the efficiency of cars and light-duty trucks, something interesting happened,” said President Obama. “We started getting letters asking that we do the same for medium and heavy-duty trucks. They were from the people who build, buy, and drive these trucks. And today, I’m proud to have the support of these companies as we announce the first-ever national policy to increase fuel efficiency and decrease greenhouse gas pollution from medium-and heavy-duty trucks.”

Under the comprehensive new national program, trucks and buses built in 2014 through 2018 will reduce oil consumption by a projected 530 million barrels and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution by approximately 270 million metric tons. Like the Administration’s historic car standards, this program – which relies heavily on off-the-shelf technologies – was developed in coordination with truck and engine manufacturers, fleet owners, the State of California, environmental groups and other stakeholders.

The joint DOT/EPA program will include a range of targets which are specific to the vehicle types and purposes. Vehicles are divided into three major categories: combination tractors (semi-trucks), heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans, and vocational vehicles (like transit buses and refuse trucks). Within each of those categories, even more specific targets are laid out based on the design and purpose of the vehicle. This flexible structure allows serious but achievable fuel efficiency improvement goals charted for each year and for each vehicle category and type.

The standards are expected to result in significant long-terms savings for vehicle owners and operators. A semi-truck operator could pay for the technology upgrades in under a year and realize net savings of $73,000 through reduced fuel costs over the truck’s useful life. These cost saving standards will also reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants that can lead to asthma, heart attacks and premature death.

Beyond the direct benefits to businesses that own and operate these vehicles, the program will also benefit consumers and businesses by reducing costs for transporting goods, and spur growth in the clean energy sector by fostering innovative technologies and providing regulatory certainty for manufacturers.

Read more about the new standards on EPA’s web site and on NHTSA’s web site

[polichick]

1. Good news!

[ProSense]

7. Yes, it is. n/t

[Robb]

2. "This program responds to President Obama’s 2010 request..."

"This program responds to President Obama’s 2010 request to jointly establish greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards for the medium- and heavy-duty highway vehicle sector."

See related story, May 2010:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4393070">Obama seeks fuel efficiency standards for large trucks.

[canoeist52]

3. Good news, but how did Obama get them to do that?

[Enrique]

4. Pelosi and Reid negotiated the law with Bush

there were compromises, and DU didn't like it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2938083#2938634

edit with my favorite:

17. How much money did Pelosi get from the Big Three?
She blocks impeachment, and now she blocks an extremely modest CAFE standard.

How is Pelosi different from the GOP when it comes to climate crisis?

Can't we get a Democrat to challenge her in the primary next year?

[Robb]

5. Eh, I believe that was an automobile standard, this is big rigs. (nt)

[Enrique]

8. same law, the 2007 energy bill

this article has a lot more about the compromises involved in getting it passed:

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2007/Dec07/121707/121907-01.htm


A federal energy bill that President Bush has signed into law includes a fuel mileage study for heavy trucks, increased mileage standards for passenger vehicles, and a mandate for increased use of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

(...)

Heavy trucks do not currently have a mileage standard, but the energy act directs the National Academy of Sciences to study and develop fuel mileage standards for heavy trucks. The government could require efficiency improvements once a benchmark is determined.

(...)

“While we are proud that this bill raises fuel-efficiency standards for the first time in a generation, we will not be satisfied until Republicans fully join us to put consumers’ interests ahead of Big Oil’s greed. By blocking tax incentives in renewable energy and standards to supply clean, renewable electricity, Republicans missed a chance to grow our new clean energy industries and build new-century jobs.”

[Robb]

9. ...which didn't have a standard for heavy trucks.

[Enrique]

10. but it authorized the standards

i'm answering the question, "how did he get them to do that?" The answer is in the long path of the 2007 energy bill becoming law, and it involved compromises by the Democrats:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/science/earth/10truck.html

(...)

The rules are allowed under a law signed by President George W. Bush in 2007, but it has taken until now to devise the program. And President Obama, speaking at a time when there is substantial opposition to new environmental rules, said in a statement that the vehicle owners wanted their trucks to be regulated.

(...)

[ProSense]

11. Well.

"Heavy trucks do not currently have a mileage standard, but the energy act directs the National Academy of Sciences to study and develop fuel mileage standards for heavy trucks. The government could require efficiency improvements once a benchmark is determined."

...it's a good thing Democrats won Congressional majorities in 2006. Bush clearly wasn't interested in moving forward in any serious way. Now President Obama took the initiative to create the first-ever standards for heavy trucks and a progressive standard for cars.

[ProSense]

6. Bush tried to

undercut the rule and California opposed. The courts rejected his proposal as too lax.

Also, Markey proposed "35 miles per gallon by 2019" for cars. The admin issued fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025.

[Enrique]

12. that looks good

i'll have to read about that. Can't argue with 54.5 mpg. :thumbsup:

[Dawgs]

13. Great news!!

:applause: