The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act on Tuesday by a vote of 343 to 79, reauthorizing a federal program that helps fund the replacement or retrofitting of older diesel trucks and engines. The bill, sponsored by Representatives Doris Matsui of California, Ken Calvert of California, Chellie Pingree of Maine and Nick Langworthy of New York, would extend the program known as DERA through fiscal year 2029 at $100 million annually. It now moves to the Senate before it could reach the president's desk.
The American Trucking Associations praised the vote. Henry Hanscom, the group's chief advocacy and public affairs officer, said the trucking industry's progress in cutting its environmental impact has depended on innovation, investment and collaboration, and that DERA has helped speed the deployment of cleaner, more efficient trucks while supporting freight movement nationwide.
DERA provides federal grants and rebates that have helped upgrade tens of thousands of vehicles over nearly two decades, saving more than half a billion gallons of fuel, according to the ATA. The group said it now takes 60 of today's trucks to emit the same particulate levels one truck produced in 1988, and more than 200 trucks to match earlier nitrogen oxide output. A newly manufactured truck produces roughly half the carbon dioxide of one built in 2010, the ATA said, along with far lower particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions.
The measure now awaits Senate action before it could be signed into law.
Source: The Trucker - https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking-news/business/ata-applauds-house-passage-of-diesel-emissions-reduction-act