The US government wants to significantly reduce truck pollution

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing new rules to reduce smoke and greenhouse gas emissions from heavy vehicles. The U.S. Environment Agency wants to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from heavy trucks.

Emissions should be reduced by more than 60 percent over a period of fifteen years. This plan marks the first impetus for reduction in the United States Exhaust gases from heavy trucks For more than twenty years.

The new standards for carbon dioxide emissions will come into effect for trucks coming onto the market in two years. After three years, new trucks will also have to meet new requirements for nitrogen oxide emissions.

Pollution

“The new standards will drastically reduce hazardous pollution,” notes director Michael Reagan. American Environmental Institute, On. “In doing so, we must take advantage of the latest advances in automotive technology, in anticipation of the fact that traffic can be regulated without emissions.”

The introduction of new requirements should reduce nitrogen oxide emissions associated with lung cancer, heart disease and premature death by 90 percent by the beginning of the next decade.

“In the United States, 72 million people live near truck lanes,” Reagan stressed. “Usually it’s about low – income families, mostly African Americans.

The new limits should avoid 2,100 premature deaths, 6,700 hospitalizations, 18,000 childhood asthma cases, 78,000 lost work days and 1.1 million school days lost each year in the mid-1940s.

Benefit

The U.S. Environmental Agency estimates that the project will cost producers $ 19 billion to $ 31 billion over 15 years, but says the move will bring net benefits of up to $ 220 billion.

However, truckers and manufacturers warn that the new standards will not be technically feasible and budget-friendly. Actions, according to them Which will eventually lead to an increase in cost It will be felt throughout the economy.

The American Association of Truck and Engine Manufacturers (DEMA) notes that engines manufactured since the beginning of the last decade already emit thirty times less nitrogen oxide than their predecessors. So far, only 50 percent of the U.S. truck fleet has switched to those new engines.

The Owners-Operator Independent Drivers Association says the new measures will have a dramatic impact on small self-employed drivers in particular – they represent 90 percent of the U.S. Navy.

There are approximately 27 million heavy trucks and buses in the United States. The new measures will also boost sales of electric trucks. Two years ago, less than a thousand electric trucks were sold in the country. In five years, it will increase to over 10,000 copies – about 1.5 percent of total annual purchases.

Traffic accounts for 29% of total emissions in the United States. It creates the sector The largest source of emissions The entire US economy.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has provided $ 1.5 billion to support local governments in purchasing low- and zero-emission vehicles. An additional $ 2.2 billion has been budgeted for sustainable interventions in public transport in eighteen U.S. states.

(LP)