It appears more destruction from the Biden administration is on its way. This time, Truckers are in the crosshairs as their industry stands to be devastated by a new EPA regulation. Despite Americans already feeling the pain of his policies, Biden and the EPA pressed forward on its latest rule to decimate the US trucking industry, sending consumer goods prices soaring. The fallout resulting from these rules will affect more than just the Trucking industry, leaving more job losses and higher prices due to more transportation costs. And it’s all in the name of ‘saving the planet’.
On Tuesday, December 20, climate communists struck again when EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced the final national clean air standards to cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks. Despite their claims of protecting public health in underserved, overburdened communities, the new rules ignore the actual impact this will have on these communities by making them pay more for essential goods like food and consumer items. It is clear that the current administration has no regard for balance or for common sense – only for what their political allies demand.
In fact one of the administration’s radical environmentalists, Dana Johnson of “We Act for Environmental Justice” opened the EPA announcement.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule Tuesday in what I call “environmental fascism”—the new regulation imposes stricter emissions standards on new heavy-duty vehicles, dramatically raising operating costs for truckers with the claimed benefit of reducing air pollution. Many are frustrated with the government’s decision because it shows no regard for the actual financial burden that this will place on individuals and businesses attempting to move consumer goods around the country. What should have been an attempt at finding a valuable balance between environmental progress and economic profit has instead become a heavy-handed overreach.
As EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan says, it will save lives, and reduce kids’ absence from school and Americans’ absences from work, since big bad trucks emit dirty smoke.
Daily Caller notes, large trucks, delivery vans, and buses manufactured after 2027 will need to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions by nearly 50% by 2045, according to the EPA rule, which is more than 80% stricter than the previous regulation. According to the rule, truckers will be required to phase out diesel-powered vehicles and use electric vehicles (EVs) instead; however, the compliance costs associated with such rules could crush an industry that is not ready to go electric.
According to a senior policy analyst with the Independent Women’s Forum and former chief of staff for the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration, “It’s an overreach that is indicative of this administration’s tendency to set aside balance to achieve the goals of activists that they are politically aligned with… It’s going to squeeze out the mid-sized and smaller trucking companies because they’re not going to be able to afford to purchase the new, extremely expensive equipment required to continue to do what they do.”
Todd Spencer, president of Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, spoke with trade publication Freight Waves and stated, “If small business truckers can’t afford the new, compliant trucks, they’re going to stay with older, less efficient trucks or leave the industry entirely… Once again, EPA has largely ignored the warnings and concerns raised by truckers in this latest rule.”
Climate communists who are pushing thru these EPA rules with no regard for the real impact it will have on consumer goods and the US trucking industry need to be held accountable. This goes beyond merely overreach, but is a clear indication of the administration’s tendency to prioritize activism over balance. The EPA has claimed that their new rules will protect public health, particularly in underserved and overburdened communities, yet they refuse to account for how consumer goods prices will soar and decimate the small business truckers. These new compliance regulations could even mean that many truckers cannot afford the newer trucks and must stick with older, less efficient models or simply leave the industry altogether. This makes it all too obvious that this rule was not thought through, leaving those most vulnerable paying more for their goods than ever before.
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