Sierra Club Supports Proposed Advanced Truck Rule

The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is holding a public hearing this morning on the proposed Advanced Clean Truck Program and Fleet Reporting Requirements. This is a precedent-setting policy from California that has two compartments.

• Zero-emission truck sales: Manufacturers who certify Class 2b-8 chassis or complete vehicles with combustion engines would be required to sell zero-emission trucks as an increasing percentage of their annual NJ sales from 2024 to 2035. By 2035, zero-emission truck/chassis sales would need to be 55% of Class 2b – 3 truck sales, 75% of Class 4 – 8 straight truck sales, and 40% of truck tractor sales.
• Company and fleet reporting: Large employers including retailers, manufacturers, brokers and others would be required to report information about shipments and shuttle services. Fleet owners, with 50 or more trucks, would be required to report about their existing fleet operations. This information would help identify future strategies to ensure that fleets purchase available zero-emission trucks and place them in service where suitable to meet their needs.

Bill Beren, Chair of the Sierra Club NJ Chapter’s Transportation Committee, released the following statement:

“New Jersey residents are facing increasing health impacts from diesel emissions from heavy duty truck traffic. These emissions also contribute to the high levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and the destructive impact that they play as climate change continues to harm New Jersey’s residents in many, many ways. From rising ocean levels affecting our shore communities and drinking water aquifers to rising temperatures and threats from forest fires, the need for reducing our emissions has never been greater.

“New Jersey’s economy continues to experience a shift away from manufacturing and towards warehousing and shipping. This is evidenced by the massive rise in warehouses being built in rural and agricultural areas. This shift is characterized by an increase in heavy duty truck traffic that is needed to bring manufactured goods from ports and highways to warehouses inside the state, which is then redistributed by fleets of heavy duty trucks delivering these goods to retail establishments and intermediary warehouses. The growth of this traffic will definitely increase harmful particulate and greenhouse gas emissions, undoing efforts by the DEP and the state to meet climate change goals.

“Unfortunately, the impact of these pollutants will continue to fall on our most vulnerable citizens – those living in Environmental Justice communities near highways, ports, and other transportation centers. That is why it is critical that the DEP adopts these resolutions. Although we feel that the California regulations don’t go far enough to fully mitigate the impacts of climate change, we recognize that adopting these standards is the only avenue available to New Jersey regulators in the short term. Therefore we strongly endorse these regulations and urge their adoption.”