An appeal challenging federal emissions rules has been won by truck trailer manufacturers. The District of Columbia Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals’ decision might save its clients millions of dollars in increased trailer costs.
The court granted the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association’s (TTMA) petition in 2016, vacating all elements of a final rule on greenhouse gas emission requirements published by the Obama administration that year that relate to trailers.
The 2016 rule, issued jointly by the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, attempted to apply to truck trailers the requirements of a statute allowing the EPA to regulate motor vehicles and the fuel efficiency standards used by the NHTSA to regulate commercial heavy-duty trucks.
“Trailers, on the other hand, do not have a motor. As a result, they aren’t ‘motor vehicles,'” according to the three-judge panel’s majority judgment. “They’re also not vehicles in the sense of a vehicle’s fuel economy because motorless vehicles don’t use any.” The final regulation issued by the [Obama administration] is based on statutes that do not grant the EPA and NHTSA power to regulate trailers.”
The TTMA had petitioned the appeals court to freeze the final rule as it applied to trailers until the case was resolved.
If the emissions regulations had remained in place, manufacturers could have been forced to retrofit trailers with aerodynamic elements to reduce drag, raising trailer costs. New trailers can range in price from $25,000 to $50,000.
In an email comment, TTMA President Jeff Sims stated, “We are delighted that the court noticed the mistakes in the rulemaking from EPA and NHTSA.” “This puts the power of decision-making in the hands of the individuals who know their business best, the motor carriers.”
For example, fully equipped trailers utilized in highway over-the-road service will gain fuel efficiency from specific devices, whereas a trailer used in city pick-up and delivery will not gain any fuel efficiencies “and, in fact, will consume more gasoline due to the increased weight,” according to Sims.
Manufacturers may now estimate costs for forthcoming model year orders with greater certainty thanks to the decision.
Judge Patricia Millett agreed with the majority on the EPA’s jurisdiction to regulate trailers but disputed that NHTSA had no authority over trailers.
“NHTSA operated under a provision of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,” she said in her partial dissent, “that required NHTSA to develop fuel efficiency criteria for commercial medium- and heavy-duty ‘on-highway vehicles.”
“Unlike the Clean Air Act, the Energy Independence Act does not define the term vehicle,’ other than to regulate its on-highway operation and status.” Given that focus, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) utilized a long-established definition of vehicles that includes commercial trailers.”
