Emission rules create trucking headaches

But while trucking companies agree with cleaner emissions, some in the industry say the changes create hardships.

Environmental Protection Agency rules make two basic changes this year, for both the vehicles that trucking companies use to ship products and the fuel used to run those vehicles. The Clean Diesel Trucks and Buses Rule requires trucks to use ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel beginning in October, a fuel that O&S Trucking President Jim O’Neal said could increase costs for trucking companies.

“The difficulty is that the pipeline of that product is contaminated,” O’Neal said. “The sulfur from the prior fuel contaminates the new fuel, so there’s going to be a distribution challenge there. I think we’re going to see spot shortages and extremely high price volatility on the diesel side until those things get straightened out.”

Another challenge is the fuel itself; the new fuel forces engines to work harder, which leads to lower fuel economy and more money spent on fuel to travel the same distance, O’Neal said.

But fuel is not the only factor for trucking companies. The EPA guidelines also require new engines with cleaner emissions in all new semi trucks, beginning with the 2007 model year.

Those engines, according to industry estimates, will increase the cost of new vehicles by between 7 percent and 10 percent – as much as $10,000 per vehicle.

The result – perhaps unexpected – is a drastic increase in sales of current model year vehicles, which do not have to meet the new requirements.

Skip Wendt, general manager at The Larson Group’s Peterbilt of Springfield Inc., said all industry reports predict a record sales year. He declined to disclose sales figures for his company, saying only that total sales for the company are ahead of last year’s pace.

“We’re not (sold out) yet, but that’s close to where we’re at right now,” Wendt said. “We could still order some trucks, but it’s getting very tight – almost to the point of being completely gone – for the industry and not just for our company.”

The new fuel and the new engines, O’Neal said, will combine to create a third impact: another increase in diesel fuel prices. “Anything that changes the supply-demand chain makes prices go up,” he said. “There’s scarcity; there’s an emotion factor sometimes; and in this case there’s going to be a logistical challenge in getting this (fuel) where it needs to be.”

Despite the changes and the challenges, O’Neal said he is fully aware of how important clean air is. After all, he said, the trucking industry’s pollution emissions have been reduced by 99.99 percent since 1973.

“As an industry, we absolutely support doing what it takes to clean up emissions and not contribute to air pollution,” he said. “But it’s difficult, and sometimes the rule-making lacks a little logic. It’s certainly not the end of the world – it’s just another challenge that we have to meet in the trucking industry.”

The Clean Diesel Trucks and Buses Rule

Originally passed in 2000, the EPA’s Clean Diesel Trucks and Buses Rule has been implemented in phases. The final phase goes into effect beginning in October with the implementation of the new low-sulfur diesel fuel rules and new diesel engine requirements for Class 8 trucks.

The agency says that by 2007, when all the regulations will be in effect, several elements of air pollution will be reduced significantly.

“It’s not a stretch to say that in many parts of the country, the air we’ll be putting out of the stacks of our trucks will be cleaner than the air we’re taking in,” said Jim O’Neal, president of O&S Trucking.

Among the predicted annual emissions decreases:

• Nitrogen oxide emissions will be reduced by 2.6 million tons;

• Soot or particulate matter will be reduced by 110,000 tons; and

• As many as 8,300 premature deaths and 17,600 cases of acute bronchitis will be prevented.

Source: EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality