The Environmental Protection Agency’s emission standards for heavy-duty trucks will harm small-business truckers, OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh recently told Congress.
Testifying at a House Highways and Transit Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, July 24, Pugh spoke out against the EPA’s efforts to move the trucking industry to zero-tailpipe-emission trucks before the technology, infrastructure and resources are in place.
Earlier this year, the EPA announced its final rule formally known as “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3.” The EPA rule requires that 25% of sleeper cab tractors must be zero-direct-emission vehicles by 2032.
“The American truckers are getting a little tired of it, too … They’re tired of being the guinea pigs for all this stuff that comes out of EPA,” Pugh said. “We were guinea pigs in 2008, we were guinea pigs in 2011 and we’re going to be the guinea pigs again. Every time we’ve been a guinea pig, a whole sector of our industry has been wiped out because they couldn’t afford it … Truckers want clean air. We all want clean air and clean water. But let the free market figure this out. Free market always does better than government heavy-handedness.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business truckers, argues that the rule pushes truckers in the direction of electric trucks even though there are major question marks in regard to cost, mileage range, battery weight, safety, charging time and a sufficient power grid.
“It’s going to devastate our industry,” Pugh said. “There’s nowhere to really fuel them. No one really has a way to address how we’re going to recharge these trucks. Small-business carriers like myself, I parked my truck at my house all the time. So this means when I want to go home or park my truck, I need to put in a very expensive charging system in my truck. Not to mention, these trucks weigh 10,000 pounds more than their diesel counterparts, which means they will haul less of a payload … which means by hauling less of a payload, you’re going to put more of these trucks out there.”
Earlier this month, more than 150 lawmakers asked the EPA to rescind the rule due to the “heavy burden” it would place on truckers, farmers and other small businesses. LL
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