As if he hasn’t done enough already to destroy the greatest economy on earth, Barack Obama on Tuesday passed legislation to kill the American long-haul rig and work truck businesses.
Flanked by truck manufacturers and trucking industry executives, President Obama signed a first-of-its-kind order in May 2010 clearing the way for medium- and heavy-duty trucks to meet more stringent fuel-economy targets. (CA Transport)
Obama’s latest regulations on the trucking industry will force thousands of long-haul truckers out of business and will significantly increase expenses on all trucking companies.
The Daily Press reported:
President Obama announced the first-ever fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for long-haul rigs, work trucks, and other heavy duty vehicles Tuesday, the second mileage pact with manufacturers in less than a month.
The regulations call for reductions on fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 2018 of 9 to 23 percent, depending on the type of vehicle. Trucks and other heavy vehicles make up only 4 percent of the domestic vehicle fleet, but given the distance they travel, the time they spend idling and their low fuel efficiency, they end up consuming about 20% of all vehicle fuel, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Experts say that a 20 percent reduction in heavy vehicle emissions would boost fuel efficiency to an average of 8 miles per gallon from 6 miles now.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Obama and the country’s automakers unveiled new fuel economy rules for passenger vehicles that would boost fleet-wide average gas mileage to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, from about 27.8 miles per gallon now.
The success of the Obama fuel efficiency program, some of it hard-won through difficult talks with car makers, stands in sharp contrast to the failure of other environmental initiatives, like climate change legislation…
…The new standards would increase the cost of heavy duty trucks, which cost tens of thousands of dollars, by several thousand dollars each, depending on the vehicle. But the administration and the manufacturers’ group estimated that the higher costs would be recouped very quickly, often within a year or two, because of savings at the pump, one of the biggest expenses for any cargo or trucking business.
Obama won’t be happy until the economy is in complete ruins.
2012 can’t get here soon enough.
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