On May 22, President Obama directed the government to set the set the first-ever mileage and pollution limits for big trucks and to tighten rules for future cars and SUVs.
"The nation that leads in the clean energy economy will lead the global economy," Obama said at the White House. "And I want America to be that nation." The presidential memorandum he signed aims to reshape the country's driving habits long after he leaves office.
With the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico underscoring the risks of the country's heavy reliance on fossil fuels, Obama gave federal agencies just over a year to come up with fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for commercial trucks and buses.
Such vehicles are big polluters and fuel consumers even though they're far outnumbered by passenger cars. The Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental advocacy group, said large trucks represent about 4 percent of all vehicles on U.S. highways but devour more than 20 percent of the fuel consumed.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, commercial trucks account for 21 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector - compared with 33 percent for passenger cars and 29 percent for SUVs, pickups and minivans.
The new standards, to be issued in July of next year, would apply to big trucks and buses for model years 2014-2018.
This is certainly progress, but given that trains can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of fuel, the best longterm strategy by far is for the federal government to do everything in its power to facilitate the shift from longhaul truck to the rails. Right now the railroads are operating at near capacity. The first task is to lay more track, lots of it, cross country.
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