Biden's Truck Pollution Rule Hanging by a Thread

House and Senate Republicans successfully enacted a legislative tool that was heavily used at the beginning of the Trump administration in 2017 to roll back environmental rules approved during the Obama administration. The Congressional Review Act enables both chambers to overturn federally approved rules with a simple majority, thus bypassing the filibuster in the Senate that requires 60 votes. But the resolution is still subject to a presidential veto.

President Joe Biden has signalled that he intends to do just that to save the “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards,” approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 20, 2022. It will be his fifth veto since the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives after the red ripple in the midterm elections.

The standards marked “the first update in 20 years to nitrogen oxide rules,” wrote Rachel Frazin who covers energy and environment policy for The Hill, after the rule was approved. NOx are major contributors to ground-level ozone pollution (smog) and particulate matter.

Frazin reported on April 26 on the narrow passage of Senate Joint Resolution 11.

The vote was 50-49. Sen Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voted with Republicans to get rid of the rule. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has been absent from the Senate amid health issues, did not vote.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) made it clear in her statement after the successful vote that her main reason for targeting the air quality rule was inflation and concern that it would not achieve cleaner emissions.

By increasing the cost of a new truck, the regulation actually incentivizes keeping older, higher-emitting trucks in service longer. It would also likely force many “mom & pop” commercial trucking operations out of business while encouraging larger trucking operations to pass these higher costs onto consumers. 

House vote

Frazin reports in the source article for this post on the narrow passage (221-203) in the House on May 23. Republicans secured a handful of Democrats from competitive or crossover districts so that the rollback could be viewed as bipartisan.

Democrats Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas) and Mary Peltola (Alaska) voted with Republicans in support of overturning the rule. Republican Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) voted with the rest of the Democrats against doing so. 

Hat tip to The Hill's Energy & Environment newsletter published on May 23.