Ernst leads GOP effort to minimize burdensome emissions rules for commercial truckers

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) led more than a dozen of her Republican colleagues in urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to choose the less burdensome of two options in its proposed emissions rule for commercial motor vehicles.

The EPA’s proposed rule, entitled “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards,” offers two options for reducing the remaining one percent to two percent of tailpipe nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from medium- and heavy-duty commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) for model years 2027 and later, according to a Nov. 17 letter Sen. Ernst and 16 of her colleagues sent to EPA Administrator Michael Regan. 

Of the two proposed options in the EPA’s proposal — which also discusses reopening the EPA’s Phase 2 CMV greenhouse gas (GHG) rule — Option 1 aims to reduce NOx emissions 90 percent by 2031, and Option 2 aims to reduce NOx emissions 75 percent overall for CMVs for model year 2027 and later, the senators wrote.

“We urge EPA to utilize the achievable and customer acceptable Option 2 and to consider any new CMV GHG mandates in a separate Phase 3 rulemaking,” wrote Sen. Ernst and the lawmakers, who included U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Hoeven (R-ND), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Todd Young (R-IN).

Moving forward with Option 2, they wrote, would provide flexibility for drivers to adequately plan for the costs associated with the ruling, whereas Option 1 would increase costs for equipment — disincentivizing them from entering the trucking industry and harming the already strained supply chain, according to their letter.

“We urge you to finalize a rule that is technologically achievable, acceptable, and affordable to American customers who haul freight and work from these trucks,” Sen. Ernst and the Republicans wrote. “Estimates show that Option 1 would raise the price of heavy-duty diesel trucks by an average of $42,000, as well as increase operating costs and likely cause a ‘pre-buy, no-buy’ scenario that would harm the market.”

Their letter has garnered support from the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association, American Truck Dealers, and the McCandless Truck Center.