WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is proposing new emission standards that would reduce smog-forming pollutants from tractor-trailer trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles as part of a multiyear plan to improve air quality across the nation.
The new draft rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, which would take effect in model year 2027, would reduce emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides from gasoline and diesel engines by as much as 60% in 2045, the agency said. It would also set updated greenhouse gas standards for certain commercial vehicle categories, including school buses, transit buses, commercial delivery trucks and short-haul tractors — subsectors where electrification is advancing at a more rapid pace, the EPA said in a news release.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said more than 70 million people live near truck freight routes in the U.S., populations who are “more likely to be people of color and those with lower income.”
