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Biden Administration to Use California as Tool to Smash Existence of Diesel Trucks In The U.S.

Biden Administration to Use California as Tool to Smash Existence of Diesel Trucks In The U.S.

President and CEO Chris Spear of the American Trucking Association counters: “If the reports are in fact accurate, let us remind you that this isn’t the United States of California.”

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/946086382870712323

The Washington Post reports that the Biden administration plans to approve new California rules to cut tailpipe pollution and phase out sales of diesel-burning trucks.

The Environmental Protection Agency intends to grant California “waivers” to enforce environmental rules that are significantly tougher than federal requirements and that state regulators have already approved, said these individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.

The new policies could have a profound effect on the air Californians breathe. Heavy-duty trucks account for nearly a third of the state’s smog-forming nitrogen oxide and more than a quarter of its fine particle pollution from diesel fuel. Both of these harmful pollutants are linked to asthma, other respiratory illnesses and premature death. Environmental advocates on behalf of Black and Latino Californians, who are more likely to live near ports, huge warehouse complexes and major highways, have long pleaded with the state’s regulators to strengthen pollution limits on the trucks whose fumes waft through their neighborhoods. Climate activists have echoed these demands.

The rules could also have national significance. Six other states, which together with California represent about 20 percent of the nation’s heavy-duty vehicle sales, have already committed to follow California’s tougher standards. But because of the way the Clean Air Act works, California and those other states cannot put their plans into action until the EPA grants the state a waiver.

Yes, the rules will have national significance….in the form of unintended consequences of Big Government micro-managing economic choices. As the CEO of Toyota recently noted, the technology and resources are not there to support this move.

“People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority,” [Toyota Motor chief Akio] Toyoda said. “That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly.”

“Because the right answer is still unclear, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one option,” he added.

Still, they persist.

And the Biden administration is pumping a lot of fuel into this effort:

Medium-to-heavy commercial vehicles are responsible for an estimated 25% of the transportation industry’s carbon emissions.

To make progress on U.S. target decarbonization goals, the Biden Administration, states and municipalities are allocating unprecedented resources to accelerate fleet electrification. The federal tax incentives for commercial EV charging stations and fleets under the Inflation Reduction Act coincide with the State of California’s mandate to eliminate new purchases of diesel trucks by 2040, with a recent January 1st deadline that bans the operation of pre-2010 Class 4 through Class 8 diesel trucks.

In support of these policies and the rising market demand, automakers like Ford, Volvo, and General Motors (through its subsidiary Brightdrop) have begun to offer medium-to-heavy electric vehicles capable of 100 to 300 miles per charge for purchase for any use case.

Actual experts in the trucking industry are deeply troubled by this move.

The Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, which represents a coalition of more than 30 truck and bus manufacturers, has argued that the new rules would force manufacturers to delay the purchase of new vehicles due to increased costs for electronic heavy-duty vehicles, according to the Post. In turn, this would incentivize truckers to leave less efficient cars on the road for longer, hindering the environmental benefits, the group argues.

“Our industry hopes these reports aren’t true,” President and CEO Chris Spear of the American Trucking Association told the DCNF [Daily Caller News Foundation] in a statement. Spear stressed that the industry had reduced emissions by 98% since 1998, and that it had worked closely with the EPA to develop “aggressive, achievable” emissions reductions timelines for decades.

“If the reports are in fact accurate, let us remind you that this isn’t the United States of California,” said Spear. “The state and federal regulators collaborating on this unrealistic patchwork of regulations have no grasp on the real costs of designing, building, manufacturing and operating the trucks that deliver their groceries, clothes and goods, but they will certainly feel the pain when these fanciful projections lead to catastrophic disruptions well beyond California’s borders.”

I hope to flee California by 2035; I certainly hope there is somewhere I can go not degraded by the pseudoscience-based polices of Golden State progressives.

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Comments

thad_the_man | March 22, 2023 at 1:17 pm

Actually the answer is simple truckers: don’t go in or out of California. See how they do when there are no deliveries.

PS: I really would like to see diesel trucks go away, but we do not have a better alternative.

    I would like to ride a Unicorn. But like a viable alternative to diesel trucks, they also do not exist.

      thad_the_man in reply to Paul. | March 22, 2023 at 1:55 pm

      The thing is we can let the technologists loose and let them create better alternatives. It’s called progress. But don’t force us to use poorer alternatives, wait until the alternatives are created.

      Just like nuclear power. We should be looking for better alternatives.

      smalltownoklahoman in reply to Paul. | March 22, 2023 at 2:14 pm

      This exactly!

    Add DC to the non-delivery list. Team Biden will drop this idiotic idea quicker than third period French.

    henrybowman in reply to thad_the_man. | March 22, 2023 at 11:06 pm

    If we did that, would the net result be no deliveries to California, or no deliveries to everybody else off the docks in California? I remember the “supply chain” problem of a couple years ago where everything was waiting out at sea for a chance to get onto California docks and no one was emptying them.

      CaptTee in reply to henrybowman. | March 23, 2023 at 12:01 pm

      Well, if we stopped buy-in CCP goods the California docks would do less business reducing their pollution, by more than just eliminated diesel trucks.

    Pettifogger in reply to thad_the_man. | March 23, 2023 at 9:48 am

    Yes. I imagine a business opportunity for warehouses just across the California state line. Truckers can deliver to the warehouses. Californians can send mule teams over to get the goods.

Netzero will make us all poorer and push 2 billion more into Starvation.

Never in human history have so many people been exterminated with such ambivalence.

    BierceAmbrose in reply to MattMusson. | March 22, 2023 at 4:02 pm

    Well, exterminated, yes. These ghouls are going for record.

    Ambivalence, however, no. They caper and gibber and dance in the anticipated ash and bones with unbecoming glee. They smack their lips and quiver anticipating the savor people’s death — knowing, horrified, helpless, pleading then resigned. Even more the sweet, sweet marrow of their own personal destruction.

    It is true that these people don’t hate you. They hate themselves, and see themselves in you, so you gotta go, too.

Bucky Barkingham | March 22, 2023 at 1:31 pm

How much ocean borne cargo is moved from California ports by diesel trucks? What happens when those trucks are forbidden from operating in the Golden State? How many long haul EV cargo trucks are there to take the place of the diesel trucks? How many charge points for EV long haul trucks are there in California?

Can you say “supply chain problems”?

    smalltownoklahoman in reply to Bucky Barkingham. | March 22, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    Diesel powers pretty much the whole supply chain. It’s not just the big trucks on the road but also those ships that bring the goods in from overseas, barges on our rivers, and freight trains as well. And like Paul said above there really is no viable alternative to that fuel source, at least not one that will deliver anywhere near the performance.

    They will have to move goods from the ports to California’s eastern edge by electric trucks, then offload onto diesel trucks for the rest of the journey.

      caseoftheblues in reply to randian. | March 23, 2023 at 6:16 am

      Increasing expense of goods exponentially and increase supply chain delays…. Yup Dems definitely in charge…. The dumbest people on the planet… well, after their voters

      CaptTee in reply to randian. | March 23, 2023 at 12:05 pm

      Where will the electric tucks get electricity from?
      1. The empty Hoover Dam?
      2. WInd?
      3. Solar?
      4. Nuclear?
      5. Coal?
      6. Diesel?

They would be better off building reservoirs. Then again, do they actually build anything, or just practice destruction?

Do NOT allow the Left Coast to lead our Country! If the tree huggers to price themselves into caves, let them.

Say a prayer to San Andreas.

“(Car companies) have begun to offer medium-to-heavy electric vehicles capable of 100 to 300 miles per charge for purchase for any use case.”

What is this going to be for truckers – drive 2 hours, then charge for an hour? Perhaps California should consider bringing back the rickshaw to transport goods – vastly superior to electric trucks on emissions.

    txvet2 in reply to jb4. | March 22, 2023 at 3:56 pm

    If enacted, it would push a lot more long distance transport onto (diesel) trains, so we can have many more E. Palestines.

    diver64 in reply to jb4. | March 22, 2023 at 4:35 pm

    Essentially, yes. I’ve been driving 30+ yrs and electric trucks work but only for specific applications. What it actually means is that local fleets will have to buy 1.5x the trucks as the extras will have to be swapped out in the middle of the day to charge. For long haul applications, not a chance as the most optimistic projections are a couple of hours to charge if you can find a charger, which there are not any commercial charging stations I’m aware of. This also does not count on the estimated 50% drop in efficiency/mileage in temperatures below 32F. The company my wife works for has pledged an all electric fleet in 5yrs or some such nonsense. The power company told them not a chance as the grid and available power just isn’t available for that. The estimated 5yr longevity on the batteries will cost over $30,000 to replace if they make it that long.
    None of this is workable especially with taking reliable coal and gas power plants off line for intermittent wind and solar.

      Andy in reply to diver64. | March 22, 2023 at 7:20 pm

      just check those on-ramps and over flowing rest areas. I mean even if every Pilot and Loves truck stop went all in there’s no way they could service the entire OTR fleet.

      Driverless ? Maybe. I don’t think we will be there in the next decade. They’ve been after that goal for 20 years and not much progress.

First off, OTR drivers are allowed to drive 11-hours in one day (70-hours toltal during 7-day spread). Why is this important?

the average 18-wheeler has x2 tanks, between 12-160 gallons each, and averages 6.5 mpg. Even if we average it to 300 gallons, that is over 1900 mile range. 300-mile range trucks means the trucker is going to be recharging every 4-5 hours.

And refuel time is still “on-clock”. So delivery times are going to be a little slower.

but you know who would really be impacted? People who live in states that have SNOW. Not uncommon for a trucker to have to wait out a storm. Maybe even be snowed in. And the OTR driver is always prepared to stay in his cab. I know – my brother drives OTR. But I seriously doubt the EV will allow the trucker to pull over and live in his cab for 24-48 hours while he waits..

Just wait until “WINTER” becomes a wrecking ball to the supply-chain.

Idiots.

    Load a trailer, attach an EV tractor to pull it, and send it up a 6% grade. Roll the cameras.

      diver64 in reply to MrE. | March 22, 2023 at 4:43 pm

      Wife’s company is testing a couple and the drivers say they actually pull very well. Of course, this is in the south with nice temps. The OP makes extremely good points but I have an aux heater on my truck and most companies also have one. If you have to pull over and run to heat the truck I’m not sure on batteries how long they will last. I can tell you that with my 140gal tanks I can run mine for a couple of months. I also get average 6.5mpg like Doc says. 20yrs ago I got 7.2mpg before all the DEF mandates and other stuff. Let doesn’t sound like much but I run 120,000 miles a year on average. Do the math.
      If they put an aux diesel heater on a truck conceivably it could be turned on to charge the batteries at night if it was large enough but I doubt it.

      Trucking companies are having a hard enough time as it is making ends meet. Imagine the total destruction of the industry if Brandons Skittles and Unicorns gets jammed down our throats. I hope everyone has emergency supplies stored up.

    txvet2 in reply to Doc-Wahala. | March 22, 2023 at 3:42 pm

    Plus the fact that cold weather drastically diminishes the range.

The only real solution is to make sure that the “fruits” of these decisions are weighed as heavily on those who make that choice as possible. If they don’t want diesel trucks delivering their groceries, fine, let them starve.

The new Tier 5 diesel engines already addresses nitrogen oxide

The exhaust coming out of new trucks is already cleaner than the air going into the intake

Leslie-

On our “move” 2 weeks ago, we were stuck in Wyoming for 2 days while wind pushed snow onto i80 and shut it down.

The hotel was FULL of uhauls going west to east. It was crazy. We saw this all through out the drive. I’ve done road trips a few times over the years, but have never seen this many uhauls out. TONS of them leaving Wa and Oregon and it was spilling all through Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.

I helped a friend move to Florida in 2021- and saw nothing to this degree.

I asked one guy with Cali plates where he was headed…. South Dakota!!!!!

    I totally believe it. Astonishing, nonetheless.

    There will be 1 going to WA in a month after we put the IL house on the market. Hope I don’t get a cramp in my neck watching all the cars with Uhauls going the other way. Haven’t made up my mind on I-80 vs I-90.

    IL house taught us some good lessons. Two houses force a person into a here or there lifestyle and ties up resources that could go to sightseeing / vacations. It was also a good lesson in downsizing and a more spartan lifestyle. We could get rid of half our stuff back in WA and still have too much stuff.

    B Buchanan in reply to Andy. | March 22, 2023 at 7:53 pm

    I landed in Nevada from Cali – too close, but next door to my daughter. Would like to move further on to Idaho, Montana or Wyoming but I don’t any children living there. Yet.

      B Buchanan in reply to B Buchanan. | March 22, 2023 at 7:57 pm

      If you are conservative and can read the writing on the wall you want to put as much distance between you and California as possible.

Presently in plastic fantastic SoCal….. so many people want to leave. I think the wish list is over 40%. The State of California considers any resident as their property.

Here in Meridian, ID, Republic Services rolled out at at least one EV trash truck to collect recyclables. I noticed first that it did not have the hydraulic bin lifter that the diesel trucks have, therefore requiring another person to ride on the back and manually dump the bins in the hopper. More recently I’ve noticed that the EV truck is MIA entirely, at least in my neighborhood, we’re back to diesel. Maybe the EV doesn’t have the range to work all day? Maybe the battery loses too much power in cold weather? Maybe it’s too expensive to double the manpower to collect politically mandated but mostly worthless recyclables? Inquiring minds want to know!

It’s been claimed elsewhere that another reason that California (and those other states who will follow Cali’s lead) is such a problem is that they represent such a large chunk of total vehicle sales, that truck manufacturers won’t be able to profitably build diesel trucks for the rest of the market.

    diver64 in reply to txvet2. | March 22, 2023 at 4:48 pm

    I don’t believe that is actually true as a large number of trucking companies have moved their HQ and operations out of the state with all of the regulations that have been passed in recent years. The companies are in NV and AZ with going into Cali to deliver freight and come back out again. Most companies will not fuel their trucks in the state due to the cost with a 50gal cap if necessary. There are a number of states like that. NY and CT come immediately to mind.

      txvet2 in reply to diver64. | March 22, 2023 at 5:04 pm

      Won’t make a difference whether they fuel there or not, if they aren’t allowed to enter the state. The article above says that the Cali group of states account for about 20% of sales. That’s a big chunk. The stories I’ve seen elsewhere were making the point about cars, but the principle is the same.

        diver64 in reply to txvet2. | March 23, 2023 at 3:51 am

        That’s not what CA is doing. They are banning the sale of the vehicles and use of them by companies based in California. They can’t stop out of state trucks from entering the state, delivering and then leaving. Interstate Commerce

BierceAmbrose | March 22, 2023 at 4:12 pm

When Righteous Quebec province finally referendumed successfully to secede from Canada, our passive-aggressive friends from The Great White North replied with The Most Canadian Thing Ever.

“You wanna secede? Ok, eh. Glad to help.

“We’ll have the checkpoints n immigration controls up in a couple months. Glad to start negotiating right away on tariffs imports and exports. Have you figured out how you’re gonna handle visas and so on with us? The rest of North America? Anybody else?

“We should probably start talking right away about your share of the national debt.”

Seems like a good model if The People’s Republic of Cali wants to secede form The US. I’m unclear on whether the feds can establish an international border w/ Cali. Other States certainly can establish controls for goods, and especially food n ag safety.

Depots n truck stops on all the roads just outside the hostile border. Transshipment to Cali-compliant stupid-haul transport right there. Charging stat

healthguyfsu | March 22, 2023 at 7:15 pm

I hope the big city wokes like to starve and live in slop.

healthguyfsu | March 22, 2023 at 7:17 pm

Think about how many grid problems we’ve already had on an annual basis without this extra stress. California has a hard time staving off blackouts. Texas froze through a winter storm.

How incredibly foolish is this stupid plan?

    BierceAmbrose in reply to healthguyfsu. | March 22, 2023 at 9:29 pm

    The people who can allocated resources and rewards always get what they want, eventually.

    This “stupid plan” is working as planned, so far.

BierceAmbrose | March 22, 2023 at 9:28 pm

I don’t have a problem with Cali-mandated short-haulers swapping their cargo to trucks that can actually go places at transfer hubs in the surrounding states. Power for recharging marked up at 100%, of course.

Trucks shouldn’t give our kids asthma.

They don’t, nor do they cause wildfires or melt glaciers.

It’s rather interesting they’re going after trucks and not diesel-electric trains.

United States of California

That’s PDRK. People’s Democratic Republic of Kalifornia.

Steven Brizel | March 23, 2023 at 9:47 am

California regulates and taxes anything that moves out of existence. That is why it is in such a sorry state

It’s not Green or die, it’s Green and die.

I look at everything that Biden’s Puppet Masters have done and it is to destroy the USA and this is the latest idea. It will stop west coast transportation from California and move the shipping from California to other ports. California will lose jobs, business, taxes, and will kill industry.