News Releases from Region 08
EPA visit to Navajo Shippers highlights Cleaner Trucks Initiative and Colorado trucking community’s leadership on clean air
Colorado partners to inform effort to update national emissions standards for trucks
DENVER -- On Thursday, January 16, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Gregory Sopkin joined Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Executive Director Shoshana Lew at the Navajo Shippers facility in Denver, Colorado, to highlight state-of-the-art clean truck technologies and a national effort to update emissions standards from heavy-duty vehicles and engines.
The goal of the Cleaner Trucks Initiative is to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from heavy-duty trucks, which contribute to ozone and particulate matter pollution here in Colorado and across the nation. Significant efforts to reduce emissions from on-highway, heavy-duty engines are already being made by many leaders in Colorado’s trucking industry, including EPA SmartWay Partner, Navajo Shippers.
EPA and CDOT’s visit to Navajo Shippers featured the exemplary work being done by the company, the Colorado Board of Motor Carriers and the overall Colorado trucking community to reduce emissions, improve fuel efficiency and improve air quality in our state’s communities.
“EPA recently designated Denver and the Northern Front Range as a serious nonattainment area for ozone pollution, and we remain focused on working together to reduce emissions from the many categories of sources that contribute to this problem,” said EPA Regional Administrator Gregory Sopkin. “We commend our partners at CDOT, CDPHE and Colorado’s transportation industry for the progress they are making and look forward to their input as we seek to strengthen national standards for trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles and engines.”
“The Cleaner Trucks Initiative showcases not only the further advancement of sustainability efforts related to the trucking industry, but the cooperative and collaborative efforts of the trucking industry working together with EPA and others to reduce emissions and improve air quality in our country,” said Troy Hill, President Hill Petroleum – Chairman of the Board Colorado Motor Carriers Association.
From 2007 to 2017, U.S. NOx emissions dropped by more than 40 percent, but there is more work to be done. Today, over 100 million people live in areas of nonattainment for ozone and particulate matter (PM), and according to EPA estimates, heavy-duty vehicles will continue to be one of the largest contributors to NOx emissions — a precursor of ozone and PM formation — from the transportation sector in 2025. Updating these standards will result in significant mobile source NOx reductions, which will aid communities across the country in achieving ozone and particulate matter attainment with EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards program.
EPA last revised NOx standards for on-highway heavy-duty trucks and engines in January 2001. Pursuant to the Clean Air Act, the Cleaner Trucks Initiative will provide manufacturers sufficient time to comply with new standards and ensure that updated standards consider feasible emissions control technologies. Working together with state and industry partners, we can achieve environmental results through the pursuit of commonsense regulations that encourage economic growth.
For more information:
EPA Cleaner Trucks Initiative: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/cleaner-trucks-initiative
EPA SmartWay: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/smartway