American Trucking Associations (ATA) Chairman Dennis Dellinger spoke before a Congressional Highways and Transit Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this week to push for greater investments in the country's transportation network, among other key issues.
Along with asking for the House panel to repeal the Federal Excise Tax (FET), invest in infrastructure, Dellinger also called for a more common sense approach to C02 emissions reduction.
[Related: ATA's Dellinger calls on Congress to repeal FET]
"The trucking industry supports national, harmonized emissions standards that are ambitious yet achievable, and which enable fleets of all sizes to adopt technologies suited to their operations - minimizing environmental impacts while maintaining supply chain efficiency," he testified. "With a battery electric or advanced hydrogen vehicle costing at least two to three times as much as a new diesel truck, these regulations (such as the 2024 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Phase 3 standards) demand rapid deployment of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) that the economic realities of trucking cannot yet support. Further, they will require massive investments in public utility infrastructure and technology advancements that have not yet been made to fit the operational needs of more trucking companies."
In other words, Dellinger clarified that ATA is not outright against zero-emission trucks but rather wants a more common sense approach towards continue emissions reduction in a way that does not harm the freight industry.
GHG Phase 2 and 3 revisions
Dellinger urged policymakers to rexamine both GHG Phase 3 and Phase 2 rulemakings. Phase 2 sets more practical and achievable goals for GHG emission standards and fuel efficiency requirements for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
Phase 3, however, not only overrode those standards but also introduced "unworkable targets and timelines that fail to reflect the realities of technology development, infrastructure readiness, and economic feasibility." It also called for aggressive but clearly unattainable (for now) zero-emission vehicle sales targets.
ATA suggests realigning those standards by reverting back to what was originally established in Phase 2, which would allow the EPA to strike a proper balance between emissions reductions without causing harm to fleets' operations. Phase 3 targets, initially set to begin in 2027, should now be revised with the latest technical and market data to account for the realities involving grid limitations and the lack of an adequate nationwide charging infrastructure.
Restoring Phase 2, Dellinger argued, is the ideal path forward for emissions reduction. He also called for the EPA to "reconsider its approach to California’s Clean Air Act waivers, which enable a patchwork of state-specific emissions regulations such as the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) and LowNOx Omnibus regulations." Ideally, the federal government will revoke these waivers and deny future requests from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in favor of creating a unified federal standard, instead of the existing state-by-state arrangement.
Sustainable fuels over electrification
As expected, ATA wants the federal government to set rules that favor the use of sustainable fuels, specifically renewable diesel and natural gas. Both offer immediate and drastic emissions reductions without major infrastructure overhauls because they're already fully compatible with internal combustion engines.
Electrification shouldn't be ruled out for future use but it's simply impractical at present, Dellinger summarized, while referring to an American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) estimate that fully electrifying U.S. fleets would require a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure investment.
Collaborate with policymakers
Dellinger made clear that collaboration between trucking and policymakers is critical to set and achieve realistic energy and emissions goals that take into account current economic and technological realities. This is not expected to be an issue given the Trump administration's friendly outreach.
By revoking California's waivers and supporting sustainable fuels along with general infrastructure development, Congress has a path forward to continue environmental progress without sacrificing the country's supply chains.
