Obama to tighten fuel efficiency standards for big trucks

[Cali_Democrat]

Source: Washington Post

President Obama will announce Tuesday that the federal government will further tighten fuel efficiency for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, according to a White House official, as part of the president's ongoing effort to use his executive authority to address climate change.

Obama's directive to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, which he will announce at the Safeway distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., marks the second time he has mandated a cut in fuel consumption and carbon emissions from larger trucks. This category, which encompasses all vehicles weighing more than 8,500 pounds, ranges from large pick-up trucks and school buses to massive 18-wheel tractor-trailers.

An earlier rule, finalized in September 2011, improved the fleet's fuel efficiency by between 9 percent and 23 percent, with the largest trucks experiencing the largest reductions. The Obama administration estimates that those standards, which applied to the model years 2014 through 2018, cost the industry roughly $8 billion but would save truck users about $50 billion in fuel costs over the lifetimes of the vehicles.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/18/obama-to-tighten-fuel-efficiency-standards-for-big-trucks/

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. K&R

[jmowreader]

2. Obama will be the Big Truck President

The last time President Obama decided to tighten regulations on big trucks, he shortened the distance they had to stop from 60 mph by about 100 feet. And do you know what happened when he did this? EVERY stakeholder in the industry, from manufacturers to fleets to the independent trucker organizations, jumped right on board because no one wants to get in an accident and this will help.

The stakeholders are going to like this too, if it doesn't double the price of tractors and trailers. Fuel has always been a trucker's biggest expense, and right now it's around $4 per gallon. That includes consignees...once fuel goes above a certain price they have to pay a surcharge, and the lower it is the better they'll like it.

Obama also appointed Anne Ferro the head of the agency that regulates trucking (the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration), and that was, IIRC, the first time that agency ever had an administrator who could drive a truck.

[wildbilln864]

3. legalize cannabis...

and then every diesel truck can run off of cannabis seed oil.

[jmowreader]

5. How much cannabis do you plan to grow?

If you have a new tractor and a new trailer with all the aerodynamic panels, you'll burn 60 to 70 gallons of fuel a day. Multiply that by half a million rigs and see how much hemp oil you've got to have every morning.

[wildbilln864]

6. a lot! grow it all across the country...

only takes about three months til harvest time. then plant again and again for three harvests a year.

[jmowreader]

7. That wasn't really my point

A little poking around indicates you can expect 25 gallons of fuel per acre of hemp. So let's see...a guy who gets 10mpg and runs 500 miles per day needs 2 acres/day.

[wildbilln864]

8. thats a lot yes.

maybe it wouldn't solve our dependence but at least it would cut back. I still say it should be legal everywhere.

[JoeyT]

4. K&R Good.

"but would save truck users about $50 billion in fuel costs over the lifetimes of the vehicles."

Yeah, but don't expect that to make them slack off their whining about it.