Oregon regulators approved a plan on Wednesday to keep heavy trucks and buses away from carbon-polluting fuels by gradually replacing most of the fleet with electric vehicles.
The Environmental Quality Council passed new clean truck rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and harmful pollution starting in 2024. Committee Chairman Catherine George called this a historic step.
Portland General Electric and Daimler Trucks North America plan to build a new charging center for electric trucks on Swan Island in Portland.
Provided by Daimler Trucks North America
"I think Oregon is really stepping up to join the ranks of California, transforming our fleet to cleaner fuel," she said after the vote. "We cannot ignore that transportation accounts for approximately 40% of [Oregon]'s greenhouse gas emissions."
In the transportation sector, heavy vehicles are a huge source of carbon pollution. According to the Department of Environmental Quality, 23% of Oregon's greenhouse gas pollution comes from heavy trucks and buses.
The burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—causes climate change. The resulting carbon pollution is trapped in the atmosphere, raising the average temperature, leading to warmer, wetter, and stormier winters, and hotter and drier summers. The consequences include floods, disappearance of glaciers, droughts and more serious wildfires.
Daimler's eCascadia and eM2 were the first two electric semi-trucks on the road.
Provided by Daimler Trucks North America
The advanced clean truck rules require manufacturers of medium and heavy vehicles, large pickup trucks, buses, and tractor trailers to begin selling a certain percentage of zero-emission electric vehicles from the 2025 model year. The committee also voted to require these manufacturers to meet stricter emission standards for nitrogen oxide pollution and to update low-emission vehicle rules to align them with the rules established by California.
Related: Oregon may soon need zero-emission trucks
Environmental, healthy and clean air advocates praised Wednesday’s vote, saying that adding more clean and electric trucks on the roads will help reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. These rules will also help reduce respiratory diseases such as asthma.
"Clean trucks are an investment in a climate-smart future and a huge investment in public health, especially for low-income communities and black, indigenous and colored communities, which are disproportionately located on highways and busy trucks. Near the corridor, diesel pollution is the most concentrated," said Victoria Paykar, Oregon Transportation Policy Manager for Climate Solutions.
Jana Jarvis, president of the Oregon Trucking Association, said she was disappointed that DEQ did not consider delaying the implementation of the rules. She said the association prefers federal standard rules rather than states adopting their own requirements. She also said that this will have a negative impact on equipment manufacturers and Oregon distributors. One of her greater concerns is the lack of battery power and the lack of charging stations across the state.
The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission is scheduled to vote on a plan on Wednesday to gradually shift medium and heavy-duty trucks from fossil fuels to electricity. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Tags: climate change, air pollution