Sen. Carper Welcomes Obama Administration Decision to Encourage Cleaner, More Energy Efficient Semitrailers, Transit Buses, and Other Large Vehicles

WASHINGTON – Today Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, applauded a decision announced by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create, for the first time, greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for semitrailers, transit buses and other large vehicles, beginning with model years 2014 to 2018. Crafted with input from both industry and environmental groups, the new standards will seek 10 percent to 20 percent reductions in fuel consumption and emissions, based on the vehicle’s size. This decision builds on the Obama Administration’s successful effort earlier this year to raise the average fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 and required, for the first time, CO2 emission standards for new vehicles. 

"Every hour of every day, Delaware’s roads are busy with large trucks, buses and other vehicles transporting the people and products that we depend upon.   Reducing the amount of fuel that goes into those vehicles – and the level of harmful emissions that come out of them – is the laudable objective of these new standards," said Sen. Carper.  "Just as passenger cars, trucks and SUVs have achieved new fuel efficiency and air quality standards, so can the other vehicles on the highway.  By reducing costs to deliver goods and preventing health problems associated with dirty exhaust, these standards can help us all."

In 2007, Sen. Carper helped broker an increase in fuel-economy standards when Congress passed bipartisan legislation to increase, for the first time in more than 30 years, the fleet-wide average for all cars, trucks and SUVs from 25 to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. That "CAFE" increase, like this new rule, was designed to reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil, cut harmful air pollution and accomplish the first two goals without harming the U.S. auto industry.