Editorial: Clean Engines and Common Sense

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he fiasco over the next generation of heavy-duty diesel engines that the Environmental Protection Agency has mandated for the trucking industry shows no sign of abating. And the losers could be all of us.

So far, EPA has certified only one engine, made by Cummins Inc., as meeting its new pollution standard. As we learned in this issue of Transport Topics, even Cummins officials don’t expect to sell more than 200 of them before the reduced pollution standard takes effect Oct. 1. Current-model engines cannot be legally sold, effective that date, without financial penalties.

Trucking fleets have made it clear they don’t intend to be guinea pigs for the new technology that engine makers are employing to meet the new standard. Instead, the fleets have been gobbling up all the trucks that the manufacturers can build before the new pollution rules kick in. These trucks, of course, are powered by current engine models. This surge of orders has even caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal, which carried a page one story about it last week.

The industry’s wait-and-see attitude is surely understandable. Many fleets are buying a few trucks with the Oct. 1 engines to test them under realistic conditions. These tests will last at least a year in order to determine the reliability and efficiency of the engines.

While this may annoy federal bureaucrats, the fleets are behaving in a perfectly responsible manner. Job No. 1 is to deliver on time the freight that the nation depends upon.

Truckers are as concerned about the environment as the rest of the inhabitants of this planet. They just don’t want the misguided actions of regulators to undermine the integrity of the greatest freight delivery system the world has ever seen. When truckers are convinced that the new breed of engines will pull their tractors reliably and efficiently, they will buy the new products. And not before.

Federal bullying tactics aren’t going to help. EPA has said that it and the Justice Department are investigating whether the engine makers have encouraged truckers to load up on old-model engines before Oct. 1. That would violate the court-approved consent decree that established this deadline for reducing diesel emissions.

EPA officials should be spending their time coming up with a compromise plan that helps protect the environment and ensures that the next generation of truck engines can deliver the freight at least as well as the current models.

This editorial appeared in the June 3 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.