Canadian Trucking Alliance Looks forward to Working
with Government on GHG Regulations
“The devil is in the details”
(Toronto, ON) -- The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) responded
positively to today's announcement by Environment Minister Jim Prentice
that the governments of Canada and the United States will undertake the
process of developing new greenhouse gas emission regulations for heavy
duty trucks, saying, "Today’s announcement will hopefully lead to
technology, regulatory and taxation reforms that will help eliminate the
fuel efficiencies lost by heavy trucks over the last few years because
of federal smog control regulations,” said Stephen Laskowski,
Senior VP, Canadian Trucking Alliance. “Fuel is either the first
or second leading cost for a trucking company,” said Laskowski.
“So intuitively a regulation designed to reduce this cost should
be welcomed by our sector, but the devil will be in the
details.”
In the last decade heavy truck engines have undergone a series of
dramatic emission reductions related to particulate matters and nitrogen
oxide. Today the new trucks coming out of the factory are virtually smog
free. However, while these new trucks are virtually smog free, the
engineering required to make this environmental achievement occur causes
more fuel to be burned creating fuel efficiency problems.
CTA is primarily concerned that the federal government needs to
understand that trucking is not a homogenous industry, so when
governments are adopting fuel efficiency standards they must be aware
that the industry hauls all different kinds of product, with different
types of trailers, of varying weights across different terrains which
all impact fuel efficiency. Furthermore allowable weights carried on
trucks and the equipment such as tires and aerodynamic devices are
provincially and state controlled which results in a myriad of
regulations ---- meaning certain fuel efficiency devices are allowed in
one province and not another province or US state making long distance
trucking a difficult challenge when it comes to requiring specific
technologies. Consequently any federal reforms regarding fuel efficiency
standards must be accompanied by provincial and state regulatory reform
regarding truck weights and dimensions.
For some time CTA has been advocating for the federal government to
adopt a cohesive, practical approach to accelerating the acquisition of
the new, mandatory, smog-free trucks combined with proven technologies
that will reduce fuel consumption. Based upon the US EPA SmartWay
program, the CTA developed its own enviroTruck program, which includes
after market devices such as auxiliary power units, roof and side
fairings, cab extenders, boat-tails, and energy efficient tires. Under
the enviroTruck program, CTA has been calling on the Government of
Canada to partner with the trucking industry and manufacturers to
provide meaningful financial incentives to accelerate the acquisition of
these enviroTruck technologies. We interpret today's announcement as
opening the door for a meaningful dialogue on how we can move forward on
this issue.
Although details are sketchy at this time, beginning with model years
2014-2018 fuel efficiency standard improvements of 20 per cent or more
are expected based on various reports. Over the coming months,
Environment Canada will be working with the trucking industry and its
suppliers to draft a regulation for public review this fall. CTA has
been assured by Environment Canada that they will be front and centre in
the discussions.
CTA looks forward to working with Environment Canada to develop a
fuel efficiency regulation that is realistic, practical and provides
incentives for quicker adoption.
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