Department-of-Transportation-Does-Not-Value-Benefits-of-Higher-Fuel-Economy-Standards-For-Freight-Shipping-Industry
October 8, 2008
The leaders of the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency may bee understating the beneficial effects of increasing fuel economy requirements for cars and trucks. As the Democrats have been repeatedly noting, the EPA remarked in certain statements lodged with the Department of Transportation that the Department of Transportation would have done better using substantially higher projections for future fuel and diesel prices when it set forth its proposal to have the average fuel economy of truck and cars increased by over 30 miles per gallon by the year 2015.
The EPA expressed many issues and problems with the DOT report, especially with the methodology implemented to ascertain the relative beneficial impact and expense with respect to the alternative fuel economy solutions analyzed and presented. The EPA also expressed concern that the DOT insubstantially evaluated the social plusses of a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by freight shippers and users of automobiles if mileage performance was boosted.
The debate over the impact of green shipping policies will continue to be heard in Washington, as the debate over the impact of greenhouse gases and global warming continues to intensify. What this means for freight shippers is that in the event the government further regulates fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions, it will likely result in freight companies being required to purchase new equipment. Somebody has to pay for these capital improvements, and it will likely be freight shippers and the freight shipping industry, both LTL shipping and truckload shipping will be affected by higher prices. Again, the era of cheap freight shipping is, regrettably, behind us.