UPDATE: This article has been updated to include a statement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Republican Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska led a group of 34 GOP senators to introduce legislation overturning strict emissions rules for heavy-duty trucks implemented by President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December.
The rules would tighten emissions standards by more than 80% on all heavy-duty trucks beginning with model year 2027, which the agency believes will result in 2,900 fewer premature deaths and $29 billion in annual net benefits, according to an EPA press release. The senators argued that the new rules would make compliant vehicles too expensive for small business owners and that existing regulations had already led to a roughly 98% drop in emissions for modern trucks compared to those built in the late 1990s, in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: Biden Admin Rethinks Signature Climate Policy After Major Blowback: REPORT)
“The Biden Administration is saddling the trucking industry with an onerous regulation that would jack up vehicle costs and hurt good paying jobs,” Fischer said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “This aggressive EPA rule – which will hit mom and pop truck operations the hardest – is also ineffective because it incentivizes operators to keep using older, higher-emitting trucks for longer.”
“EPA developed the final rule based on a robust, complete technical record consistent with the authority set forth in the Clean Air Act…The new standards are more than 80% stronger, increase useful life of governed vehicles by 1.5–2.5 times, and will yield emissions warranties that are 2.8–4.5 times longer,” an EPA spokesperson told the DCNF. “This final rule includes provisions for longer useful life and warranty periods. These provisions guarantee that as target vehicles age, they will continue to meet EPA’s more stringent emissions standards for a longer period of time.”
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 30: Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) speaks at a news conference to discuss Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett on September 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Recently implemented regulations can be overturned by Congress under the Congressional Review Act, according to Reuters. The joint resolution introduced by the GOP senators to repeal the rule would need approval from a simple majority of both the House, where Republicans currently hold a slim majority, and the Senate, held 51-49 by Democrats.
The new emissions standards are the first new rules to be implemented on heavy-duty trucks in more than two decades and also beef up testing procedures, according to Reuters.
The new rules are “really important, especially for protecting the health of the 72 million people living near truck freight routes in America,” EPA Administrator Michael Regen told Reuters when the rules were finalized. Also in December, Todd Spencer, president of Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, told Reuters that the new rules would likely cause small businesses to hang onto older, less efficient trucks for longer, or simply leave the industry entirely due if they were unable to afford compliant trucks.
The EPA did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.
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