The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation jointly issued final standards on Aug. 16 to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy for heavy duty trucks which currently average about six miles per gallon.

"The Obama administration on [Aug. 16] issued aggressive new emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks," reports Bill Vlasic for The New York Times. "The rules are expected to achieve better fuel efficiency and a bigger cut in pollution than the version that was first proposed last year."
Officials said the new standards would require up to a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions for big tractor-trailers over the next 10 years, and somewhat smaller improvements for delivery trucks, school buses and other large vehicles.
As with regulations on emission standards for passenger vehicles (which include light trucks), the rules are jointly issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation, specifically through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. EPA regulates greenhouse gas emissions while NHTSA regulates fuel efficiency, using the term Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy "said the standards were 'ambitious but achievable,' and were decided after hundreds of meetings in the last year with groups representing truck manufacturers, fleet owners and environmental organizations," adds Vlasic. But they will add to the costs of new trucks, though they achieve cost savings too.
Analysts have estimated the cost of complying with the new standards at $12,000 a vehicle. [Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx] said those investments would be outweighed by larger economic gains such as reduced fuel consumption.
[He] said the trucking industry would save an estimated $170 billion in fuel costs through 2027 and reduce petroleum consumption by two billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the new rules.
The new standards are welcome news for environmentalists. Transportation supplanted power plants last February as the largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S. economy. "Within the transportation sector, heavy-duty vehicles are the fastest-growing contributors to [greenhouse gas] emissions," according to an EPA-NHTSA fact sheet [PDF] on the new standards.
FULL STORY: New Rules Require Heavy-Duty Trucks to Reduce Emissions by 25% Over the Next Decade

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie