Graves Says ATA Won't Seek Delay on Emissions Standards

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merican Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said Wednesday ATA would not try to delay upcoming federal rules regulating diesel engine emission standards.

"It is very clear to ATA and the motor carrier industry that this rule will result in significant positive impacts on the quality of our nation's air," Graves said in the speech Wednesday to the Japan International Transport Institute.



In 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency required cleaner diesel fuel beginning in 2006, and cleaner diesel engines in heavy-duty trucks and buses starting in 2007.

The rules require refiners to lower the amount of sulfur in diesel fuel for truck and bus engines from the current level of 500 parts per million down to no more than 15 parts per million by June 2006. It also requires manufacturers to phase in between 2007 and 2010 cleaner-burning diesel engines.

In 1998, engine manufacturers agreed to produce cleaner engines after Oct. 1, 2002. The EPA created the 2007 rule as the next step in reducing emissions.

ATA said new trucks would cost an average $5,000 to $10,000 more and the fuel economy was expected to be only slightly less efficient, the Associated Press reported.