Now Biden is announcing the strictest emissions rules for trucks, buses and RVs in the latest climate policy

Joe Biden has introduced his strictest rules on emissions from trucks and buses as part of a sweeping plan to put more electric vehicles on the road.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday announced strict guidelines for heavy-duty vehicles – including cement mixers, garbage trucks, RVs, ambulances and school buses.

It would mean that by 2032, 25 percent of long-haul trucks and 40 percent of medium-sized trucks – such as landscape vehicles and rigids – would have to be non-polluting.

Anti-regulation activists denounced the move, saying it would make it harder to do business and hurt consumers.

School buses would be subject to the new emissions rules

The rules limit the amount of polluting trucks that can produce on models produced in 2027 and beyond.

“This is another giant step forward to protect future generations from climate change,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

But Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, said: ‘The EPA is setting unattainable emissions reduction targets, this time targeting heavy-duty trucks that are responsible for a huge share of US truck traffic.

“The technology needed to electrify the trucking industry is far from ready, and this rule puts us on a collision course for supply chain disasters.

“By increasing shipping costs with this rule, the Biden administration is once again demonstrating its lack of concern for American families who have been hit hard by inflation and the onslaught of rules and regulations that are making it increasingly difficult to do business around the world. US’

Manufacturers will have to decide how to implement the cleaner standards, and could use more zero-emission batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.

The EPA believes the new limits will wipe out a billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health.

“By looking at multiple vehicle classes, the industry can develop sound investment strategies, giving them the flexibility to choose from a range of options,” the report said.

US President Joe Biden is shown a Chevrolet Silverado EV by General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra during a visit to the Detroit Auto Show to showcase America’s electric vehicle manufacturing, in Detroit, Michigan, US, September 14 2022

U.S. President Joe Biden tests the new Ford F-150 lightning car during a visit to VDAB at the Ford Dearborn Development Center in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., May 18, 2021

Over the next ten years, the measures will reduce the amount of gasoline used in more than 13 million tanker trucks, the EPA said.

“EPA is finalizing the strictest national greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles in history,” Regan said. “By finalizing these emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, the EPA will significantly reduce pollution from the hardest-working vehicles on the road.”

He added that heavy-duty vehicles are essential to “keep our economy moving” but that “they also contribute significantly to pollution from the transportation sector, emissions that fuel climate change and create poor air quality in too many American communities .’

Ambulances would be subject to the new EPA rules

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The EPA said about 72 million people in the United States live next to truck freight routes, and they are more likely to be people of color or from low-income households.

“Today’s truck regulations will improve the air we breathe and reduce the pollution that causes climate change,” said Paul Billings, director of public policy at the American Lung Association.

A tanker truck transports crude oil on a highway near Duchesne, Utah on July 13, 2023

Stacked cargo containers are loaded onto trucks for transportation at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, USA, March 28, 2024

The move comes after the Biden administration recently issued revised pollution standards for U.S. cars in an effort to accelerate the U.S. auto industry’s shift to electric vehicles.

Last week it announced new standards for automakers that will require a nearly 50 percent drop in fleet-wide emissions by 2032 compared to 2026, due to increased sales of electric and low-emission cars.

The rules join other Biden programs to boost electric vehicle sales and build more EV charging stations and manufacturing facilities.

White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi. “By tackling pollution from heavy vehicles, we can achieve extraordinary gains for public health, the climate and the economy.”