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Big rig trucks may be subject to fuel efficiency standards
A man walks in front of a row of semi-trucks at the Broadway Fuel Stop in Hardin, Mont.
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Kai Ryssdal: You know all those big rigs you share the highway with? They are finally going to have to meet fuel efficiency standards, just like cars have had to do for 35 years or so.
From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, Sarah Gardner explains why it took so long.
Sarah Gardner: Federal officials today announced plans to force long-haul trucks, school buses and big pick-ups to cut fuel consumption by 10 to 20 percent. The changes would start in the 2014 model year.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Ray LaHood: It will reduce our reliance on oil, strengthen our energy security and mitigate climate change.
The government has dictated fuel economy standards for cars since Gerald Ford was president. But freight trucks were exempted, only partly because they play such a key role in national commerce.
Dan Becker is at the Center for Auto Safety.
Dan Becker: The trucking industry and the auto industry in general have been very powerful and have resisted change.
Experts say advances in hybrid technology and clean diesel have softened some of that resistance. At the same time, corporate awareness of global warming has risen. Many companies, including UPS, already use some short-haul trucks fueled by cleaner natural gas.
I'm Sarah Gardner for Marketplace.
Well, that's part of the story. But we also ought to be looking into moving more of what trucks move off the highways along our three coasts, and onto coastal shipping vessels. And inland, we ought to be looking at moving more of what we currently truck onto rails.
Look into a study entitled America's Deep Blue Highways. Its funding should be considered, but its points are useful.
I don't know where the environmental debate on "fracking" of natural gas stands exactly, but I know your phrase "cleaner natural gas" didn't ring right (any more). Perhaps "cleaner-BURNING natural gas" would be more sensible at this point. From a quick search-and-scan of your site, you all are well aware at least of the controversy around hydraulic fracturing.
I'm curious why the administration even felt the need to add this regulation. Despite the news release claim of "first ever standard", the Bush administration had already whacked the engine manufacturers in the 00's. Consequently, the models hitting the roads in the past 12 months are literally "air cleaners" in some major cities.
And as far as Fuel economy? Please. I spend $75,000 per year on Diesel fuel. I can assure you, we're doing EVERYTHING we can to get better fuel mileage already. Now they want a 20% gain? We're so good at this that we're measuring our gains in TENTHS of percentages. 20% is simple impossible.
And the cleaner the engine, invariably the less fuel efficient that engine is so a government regulation mandating two mutually exclusive goals is nothing short of a publicity stunt that we'll have to pay for.
