Obama’s Truck Regulations Are Another Torpedo To US Economy

Washington, D.C., October 25, 2010 — As part of the Obama Administration’s ill-conceived energy-rationing campaign, today the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to target heavy-duty trucks with new heavy-handed regulations. For the first time, the federal government would impose fuel efficiency standards on semi-trucks, buses, delivery vans, garbage trucks, and heavy-duty pick-up trucks, in a move that would negatively impact the economy.

“It is already in the interests of truck manufacturers and the freight industry to make trucks as fuel efficient as possible. The only way to increase fuel efficiency as quickly as EPA’s proposal requires will be to move less freight,” said Myron Ebell, the Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment. “That means that commercial activity and economic growth will take a huge hit.”

“Today’s announcement is the latest link in a regulatory chain-reaction set off by the EPA’s misbegotten decision to subject greenhouse gas emissions to air pollution controls under the Clean Air Act,” said William Yeatman, CEI Energy Policy Analyst. “Ultimately, the EPA will have the authority to regulate virtually every large building, every power plant, and every factory, as well as cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, and ships. This unprecedented expansion of executive power threatens to shackle the economy.“

The Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are proposing mandatory reductions in fuel use of between 10 and 20 percent from the largest vehicles. And in January, the EPA will begin regulating large stationary sources such as power plants and factories. 

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