By Maxine Joselow, The Washington PostTrucks move north along the Interstate 5 near Tejon Pass in California.
“Now that I have a 2-year-old kid, we actually try to avoid playing outside when there is bad air,” said Makarem, who lives in Kansas City, Kan., and is a spokesman for the Moving Forward Network, a group that advocates for reducing pollution in disadvantaged communities. “Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction.”
One change from the proposed rule released last year: The final rule will not require truck manufacturers to dramatically ramp up the production of cleaner vehicles until after 2030. That represents a slower timeline than California’s truck pollution regulation, which mandates steep increases starting this year.
But behind the scenes, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, which represents the nation’s largest truck makers, lobbied to weaken the EPA proposal. The industry has also led a campaign against California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation, which 10 other states have adopted. But other truckers say they love driving electric, praising the vehicles’ handling, acceleration, smoothness and quietness.
“Every assumption the study makes is the assumption that would result in the highest costs,” said Dave Cooke, senior vehicles analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s an absurd analysis that is specifically designed to generate a big number.”Jacqueline Gelb, vice president of energy and environmental affairs at the American Trucking Associations, defended the report’s methodology and findings. She noted that the study didn’t include the expense of the electric trucks themselves.