WASHINGTON   –  U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) says the Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with fuel economy and emissions standards for trucks, transit buses and other heavy-duty vehicles. 

“The trucks and other buses affected by these standards aren’t commuter vehicles, they are the working parts of our farms, of the construction industry and the vehicles that deliver our agriculture and manufacturing products to market.  Onerous new rules and regulations from the EPA spell higher costs for consumers and employers.  I’m very concerned about the influence of environmental extremists in this process and the presence of special deals for states like California,” Emerson said.

Officials at the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality say the new rules will be finalized by June of 2011, and first implementation of the regulations is planned for 2014.

“Yet again, big government is intruding on our local businesses, on independent owner-operators of over-the-road trucks, on farms that use heavy equipment.  These standards are for vehicles that aren’t as flexible as passenger cars, and this Administration and the EPA have already shown they are completely unsympathetic to the challenges of staying competitive in our rural economy,” Emerson said.  “Taking an over-the-road truck and forcing an increase of, say, 18 percent in fuel economy, is an expense many trucking companies will have a difficult time absorbing.  Furthermore, these regulations create costs that will ultimately be absorbed by consumer in the form of higher prices for groceries, for household supplies, for anything shipped by truck to the store where you buy it.”

While new technologies related to tires and fuel economy are expected to be mandated under the new rules, EPA is expected to ignore any binding recommendations regarding the use of alternative fuels such as natural gas and ethanol.

“No serious effort at reducing large vehicle emissions can leave alternative fuels out of the equation.  It’s a clear concession to California and to the extreme environmental community that renewable biofuels and natural gas would be passed over for their emissions-reducing properties, at the direct expense of clean-fuel producing states like Missouri,” Emerson pointed out.

Emerson goes on to question whether Democratic leaders in Congress are taking their oversight role seriously in the face of regulations that could cost jobs in congressional districts like the one she represents in Southern Missouri.

“I don’t know that the EPA has taken a step back and honestly asked what these regulations will do to our economy, what will they do to our small businesses and families in Missouri, how many jobs will they cost us,” Emerson said.  “The mentality in Washington is: Regulate first, ask questions later, and it’s something the Democratic leaders in Congress don’t have the courage to change,” Emerson said.