WASHINGTON – Last Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a joint proposal for new standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that would improve fuel efficiency and cut carbon pollution.

According to a press release by the agencies, the proposed standards – which would require manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks to increase fuel efficiency by up to 24% from current levels – are expected to lower CO2 emissions by approximately 1 billion metric tons, cut fuel costs by about $170 billion and reduce oil consumption by up to 1.8 billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the program.

While the Obama administration is touting the proposed rules as a key part of its larger mission to cut carbon pollution and reduce the impacts of climate change, while bolstering energy security and spurring manufacturing innovation, critics have argued that the tighter rules would increase the price of new trucks, creating a snowball effect that would drive up prices for food and other products, or squeeze out smaller operators that can’t afford the increased cost for the new vehicles.

“These proposed rules could also have a significant impact on NACS fuel retailer members, particularly truck stop operators, who would likely see a change in overall fuel demand,” said NACS Director of Government Relations Paige Anderson. “But the trickle-down effect will really impact all aspects of the industry, including those companies who run their own truck fleets .” 

The proposal would apply to heavy-duty trucks beginning with the 2021 through 2027 model year, following up on the EPA’s 2011 standards that required trucks in model years 2014 through 2018 to improve fuel economy by up to 20%. According to a report from Politico, the new proposed standards will require freight-hauling tractor trailers to reduce fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 24%. Vocational vehicles, pick-up trucks and light vans must become 16% more efficient.

Originally intended to be finalized next March, the Obama administration now projects a January 2017 deadline to finalize the rule. Complying with the rule is expected to cost an estimated $26.1 billion, but the administration estimates that fuel savings and other benefits will net the U.S. economy $242 billion over the lifetime of truck model years 2018 through 2029, according to a draft regulatory impact analysis produced by EPA and DOT. Those figures work out to an annual cost of $1.4 billion, counterbalanced by $8.7 billion a year in fuel savings and $4.9 billion a year in other benefits.

According to news reports, the trucking industry offered lukewarm support for the rule, welcoming the efforts to help cut the consumption of diesel fuel that cost the industry $150 billion last year, yet remaining wary of rules that could require it to use new technology that wasn’t quite ready.