Mass transit funding, tighter standards 'turning point' for US road transportation: Harris

A new proposal for heavy-duty vehicle emissions standards and a slate of new investments to speed the electrification of school buses and ensure greener public transit options signal a "turning point" for US aspirations to usher in a zero-emissions fleet, Vice President Kamala Harris said March 7.

Harris' remarks at a White House event were accompanied by a slew of clean transit announcements made by administration officials also at the event. The new federal actions are in line with the administration's vision of an electric, zero-emissions transportation future and seek to address environmental injustices and climate concerns while also expanding public transit and ensuring efficient delivery of goods.

"Our transportation sector has reached a turning point," Harris said. "We have the technology to transition to a zero-emission fleet. Our administration, together all of us, is working to make that possibility a reality."

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined the vice president in stressing the need for transportation to play a large role in mitigating the climate crisis and air pollution.

"One of our best tools for doing that is public transit, as it gets riders where they need to be efficiently and affordably with far less pollution than driving," Buttigieg said. "And it's even good for drivers of cars because it means less congestion and traffic on our roads, and transit is even better when it's clean transit with modern electric buses that don't pollute at all."

Heavy-duty vehicles like buses and trucks currently account for a quarter of US transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. Among the announcements March 7, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its proposed rule for stronger GHG emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles and engines, starting with model year 2027.

Clean Trucks Plan

The rule, if finalized, would slash smog- and soot-forming nitrogen oxides emissions from heavy-duty gasoline and diesel engines, cutting as much as 60% of that pollutant from trucks in 2045 and marking the first update in more than 20 years of these NOx emissions regulations.

The proposed rule also includes the EPA's first step of a planned three-phase approach to achieving a zero-emission freight sector more quickly.

Specifically, the rule would strengthen GHG standards for certain model year 2027 and later commercial vehicle categories that have seen electrification advance more rapidly, such as school and transit buses, commercial delivery trucks and short-haul tractors. Falling costs along with state and local policies drove greater market penetration of zero-emission vehicles in those subsectors, the agency said.

"We're taking this three-step approach because the freight and trucking sector is broad and complex, and because we cannot afford the health, environmental injustice and climate consequences of waiting for every single segment to transition to zero-emission technology on its own," EPA Administrator Michael Regan said at the event with Harris.

"This will ensure that the portions of the heavy-duty fleet that continue to rely on the internal combustion engine during the transition to cleaner alternatives will deliver much needed protections to our most vulnerable communities," including the 72 million people estimated to live near truck freight routes that are "overburdened by air pollution from diesel engines," Regan said.

The agency's so-called Clean Trucks Plan was designed to be feasible for the trucking industry to meet, with consideration paid to costs and other factors, he added.

The agency is seeking comment on options in its proposal addressing the robustness and phased-in implementation of the GHG standards as well as the potential to incentivize early clean technology adoption and improve emissions warranties. A 46-day comment window will commence once the rule is published in the Federal Register, and the agency also plans to hold a virtual public hearing on the proposal.

"The next piece of the Clean Trucks Plan will reduce air and climate pollution from medium-duty vehicles," Regan noted. "And the third will establish new and significantly stronger [GHG] standards for heavy-duty vehicles beginning as soon as model year 2030."

School buses, public transit

The EPA also announced the school districts awarded a total of $17 million in rebates to fund clean school buses. Those awards include $7 million from American Rescue Plan funding to replace diesel school buses in underserved communities with zero-emission electric buses and $10 million that will help replace 444 school buses with cleaner, low-emissions options, of which new electric, diesel, gasoline, propane or compressed natural gas buses would qualify.

Further, the first tranche of the $5 billion allotted for clean school buses from the bipartisan infrastructure law will start to be doled out in the coming months, the agency said.

DOT officials at the event said the department would make available $1.1 billion in 2022 for the Low- and No-Emission Transit Vehicle Program, which saw a $5.5 billion expansion under the bipartisan infrastructure law. That funding can be used by states and local communities to buy US-built electric transit buses, and an additional $372 million was also announced under DOT's Buses and Bus Facilities competitive grant program that can support low- or no-emissions public bus projects.

Harris also touted DOT's plan to allocate $2.2 billion in funding to help 35 transit agencies across 18 states "employ more transit workers and keep transit services running."