EPA sets strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses in bid to fight climate change

By MATTHEW DALY and TOM KRISHER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has set strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and other large vehicles. EPA officials say Friday’s action will help clean up some of the nation’s largest sources of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The EPA says the new rules will take effect for model years 2027 through 2032 and will avoid up to 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades. EPA Administrator Michael Regan says the new standards will especially benefit 72 million people who live near U.S. freight routes used by trucks and other heavy vehicles and bear a disproportionate burden of dangerous air pollution. Industry groups criticize the new standards as unreachable with current electric-vehicle technology.