EPA finalizes Clean Trucks Plan, standards for heavy-duty vehicles to reduce pollution

Following the completion of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Trucks Plan, standards to lower smog- and soot-forming emissions from trucks will be applied in model year 2027, according to a press release from the agency.

This effort by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is 80% stronger than the standards in place now and will push low-carbon and electronic technologies on heavy-duty vehicles that are responsible for pollution.

As Healio has previously reported, President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is also helping to promote clean air and keep people healthy through the use of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles.

With this plan in place and impacting vehicles made in 2027 and beyond, the EPA believes that several annual public health benefits will occur by 2045. According to the release, these benefits include:

• “Up to 2,900 fewer premature deaths;
• 6,700 fewer hospital admissions and ED visits;
• 18,000 fewer cases of childhood asthma;
• 3.1 million fewer cases of asthma symptoms and allergic rhinitis symptoms;
• 78,000 fewer lost days of work;
• 1.1 million fewer lost school days for children; and
• $29 billion in annual net benefits.”

The agency also wrote that the Clean Trucks Plan will lengthen the useful life of governed vehicles and extend emission warranties.

“EPA is taking significant action to protect public health, especially the health of 72 million people living near truck freight routes in America, including our most vulnerable populations in historically overburdened communities,” Michael S. Regan, administrator of the EPA, said in the release. “But we’re not stopping there. This is just the first action under EPA’s Clean Trucks Plan to pave the way toward a zero-emission future. These rigorous standards, coupled with historic investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will accelerate President Biden’s ambitious agenda to overhaul the nation’s trucking fleet, deliver cleaner air, and protect people and the planet.”

According to the release, the Clean Trucks Plan will also include proposals regarding greenhouse gas standards for the same heavy-duty vehicles and multipollutant standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles. These proposals have not yet been released.