Celia Israel: “Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued proposed…”

“Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued proposed fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act. This amendment would prohibit EPA from finalizing, implementing, administering, or enforcing this proposed rule or any rule of the same substance with respect to glider vehicles. These new standards are designed to improve fuel efficiency and cut carbon pollution to reduce the impact of climate change. To be specific, Mr. Chair, these standards are expected to lower CO<INF>2</INF> emissions by roughly 1 billion metric tons, cut fuel costs by $170 million, and reduce oil consumption by up to 1.8 billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the program. Now, heavy-duty trucks account for 5 percent of the vehicles on the road, and yet they create 20 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions created by all transportation sectors. I would note for my colleagues that this amendment doesn't actually suspend all aspects of the new rule; it simply carves out an exemption for one particular industry, the industry that produces what are known as glider vehicles. Glider vehicles are heavy-duty vehicles that place an older or remanufactured engine on a new truck chassis. These are engines that date back to 2001 or older. They have emissions that are 20 to 40 times higher than today's clean diesel engines. In essence, Mr.…”