Environmental Trucking Rules Delayed in Colorado, United States
GHRTV Reporter
17-2-2022
Arianna Pearlstein
Environment and Human Rights Researcher
Global Human Rights Defence
Pollution regulators in Colorado, The United States, recently announced that they will not be able to finish clean trucking rules until 2023. The rules were intended to help Colorado state meet its laws that commit it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030. Examples of such rules now delayed include ones requiring truck manufacturers to increase their sales of zero emission electric trucks and buses, and reducing nitrous oxide production in vehicle emissions. It is now expected that the clean trucking policy will go into effect in 2026.
This delay has sparked protests from various environmental justice and civil society groups. A release by the coalition discussing this matter with the states including Colorado GreenLatinos, NAACP, and Mi Famila Vota among others, stressed that the delay in this rule process is not just a bureaucratic holdup. A delay means that minority communities located in warehouse and industrial neighborhoods will have to continue dealing with the negative effects of pollution in their communities.
Meanwhile trucking trade groups have said that delays in supplies and a lack of access to cleaner vehicle models make the quick implementation of any trucking rules an unlikely possibility.
Sources and further reading:
https://www.cpr.org/2022/02/17/colorado-clean-trucking-policies-electric-vehicles-delays/
https://coloradosun.com/2022/02/17/colorado-clean-air-rule-clean-trucks-delay/
