2Sustain

Trucking practices factor significantly in most sustainable supply chains, so I’m keeping a watchful eye on the testimony that’s being presented this week before the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Specifically, the American Trucking Association (ATA) is proposing a variety of environmental initiatives. The ATA wants Congress to:

• Enact a national 65 mph speed limit and govern truck speeds at 65 mph or slower to reduce fuel consumption

• Increase funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program, a voluntary GHG reduction program designed to increase energy efficiency and reduce air pollution

• Support national fuel economy standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks leading to lower emissions through reduced fuel consumption

• Implement financial incentives in the way of tax credits or grants to expedite the introduction of idling reduction equipment

• Invest in infrastructure improvements to fix the nation’s most critical bottlenecks, which would ease congestion while saving 32 billion gallons of fuel and reducing carbon emissions by 314 million tons over 10 years

• Fund research and development in new technologies that will improve average fuel consumption and generate greater fuel efficiency

• Promote the use of more productive truck combinations resulting in fewer truck miles traveled and saving more than 20.5 billion gallons of diesel fuel and reducing carbon emissions by 227 million tons over 10 years.

The ATA says these initiatives will  reduce fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and reduce the carbon footprint of all vehicles by nearly a billion tons over the next 10 years.

However, not everyone agrees with their position.

For instance, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), which represents the interests of small business truckers, sees the ATA’s proposals as not only anti-competitive, but outright dangerous, too. In particular, the OOIDA is opposed to longer/heavier truck and trailer combinations, as well as to government mandates for speed limiters on truck engines. In a statement released on Tuesday, the OOIDA rejects the ATA’s initiatives as nothing more than greenwashing.

“Upping truck weights and mandating speed limiters in the name of sustainability is irresponsible and ridiculous,” says OOIDA Executive Vice President, Todd Spencer.  “Those things have nothing to do with making trucking more ‘green’ and everything to do with adding more ‘green’ to the pockets of large corporations.”

The OOIDA is proposing its own set of environmental initiatives, which focus on addressing supply chain inefficiencies. The OOIDA would like to see:

• less fuel and time wasted by waiting to be loaded/unloaded

• less fuel and time wasted by the amount of empty miles truckers must drive

According to the OOIDA press release, these two inefficiencies alone cost trucking and consumers a combined $5.7 billion annually.

It’s important that the ATA and the OOIDA find common ground so that the industry as a whole can move forward with environmental initiatives, and I’ll continue to keep you posted as the debate develops. In the meantime, though, I’m curious: What role does trucking play in your company’s sustainability plan? Are there specific green improvements you would like to see adopted by the trucking industry?