This piece on Associated Press (AP) News reports that the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is toughening up emission standards for "Heavy-Duty Vehicles". The standards for this class of vehicles hasn't been toughened since 2016 (8 years ago!). It is worth noting that the EPA's original proposals were watered down, for certain in response to industry lobbying.

The USA is heavily dependent on trucks for shipping goods across the nation; hardly anything is transported by train. This was brutally brought home to me in the last year, when I saw the outrageous number of trucks on the road on our trip from Chicago to Ohio for the funeral of Sheryl's father. Other countries make much better use of their rail networks for shipping goods. This is caused by the relatively lower cost of road transport, caused in turn by the ridiculously low price of fuel.

My real question is, why has it taken the EPA so long to act? I understand that, during the Trump presidency, the EPA were not allowed to toughen environmental regulations, but there have since been nearly 4 years of the Biden presidency, during which the EPA could have taken steps.

Does the EPA not understand that our planet has an environmental crisis? Swift and drastic action is needed. There is also a sound economic justification for tougher emissions standards ("over the next three decades ... $13 billion in net benefits in the form of fewer hospital visits, lost work days and deaths").

Stop messing around and do your job!