ATA's Emission Petition: Hope For The Future?
Trucking needs a positionon super-tough 2007 regs. This could be a start.
Citing "new information" that indicates trucking could suffer severe economic damage from emissions regulations taking effect October 1, the American Trucking Assns. has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to back off on the rule.
In addition to asking EPA to call off the October implementation of the rule, ATA asked for a new cost-benefit analysis and small business impact study. It bases its appeal on the grounds that the government badly underestimated what the rule would add to truck operating costs.
One might say that with only three months to go to the deadline, ATA's action was too late to have any effect. And, one might ask, why didn't anyone speak up back when EPA jumped the deadline to this year — two years earlier than originally planned?
Some — mostly truck and engine manufacturers — did speak up, but at the time virtually no one else recognized the potential depth of the problem. In the many months between then and now, realization has soaked in: costs associated with the new engines are going to be a lot higher than first expected.
Under its previous leadership, ATA took the position that it was the manufacturers' battle with EPA. Turns out now that it was the battle of everyone who has anything to do with trucking.
ATA's petition cites this example of how EPA missed on estimating costs. The agency originally said a new EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) engine would cost $803 more than a current similar one. It now says the number is closer to $9,000 — 10 times its original forecast.
And EPA originally said there would be no fuel economy penalty, but now says there will be. The ATA petition bores in on other issues, too: more frequent oil changes using more expensive oil; maintenance factors associated with hotter under-hood temperatures; technician training; engine compartment alterations, and possible resale/trade-in value penalties.
It says the rule could wreak havoc on trucking, which is dominated by small businesses and is already operating on razor-thin margins.
So what will come of this? Will the Bush administration take a second look and delay the October deadline? Might it loosen some of the restrictions? After all, it just backed off on power plant pollution limits.
With elections on the horizon and Bush now under constant fire from the environmental side, don't count on it. It looks like we'll have to live with this rule and hope that the EGR engines come through.
But what the ATA petition may accomplish is to serve as the foundation for the industry's position on the upcoming 2007 emissions regulations. As written, they look so tough that our diesels will have to pump out cleaner air than they take in.
If that's ATA's strategy, it looks like a wise long-range move. But it's still too bad there wasn't an early industry-wide effort to make this year's rule more palatable.
There'd better be one next time.
