The EPA finalized a rule for stricter emissions standards on heavy-duty vehicles that will raise costs for truckers, raising prices for everyone, says Texas Trucking Assoc President JohnEsparza. The Biden administration, run by Obama staff, is hurting the middle class to satisfy the ideological lust of the hard-left. The middle class is shrinking. That’s indisputable, and inflation is on the move again.
.@SawchukWealth‘s Terry Sawchuk joins @RealMirandaKhan to discuss a new rule just finalized by the EPA that is set to decimate the trucking industry in the U.S.
Watch LIVE➡ https://t.co/Q75Am27mTX
Watch more @RealDrGina #PrimeTime here: https://t.co/uO3dGntOeV pic.twitter.com/ARCw3iudLJ
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) December 29, 2022
ZERO COMPLIANCE IN CALIFORNIA
At the same time, new California regulations will force trucking companies to add only electric trucks to their fleets starting in January. Truckers say it’s impractical. “You may as well build a spaceship and go to Mars.”
This could cripple an already problematic supply chain problem. One driver told National Report they could be catastrophic since they are already over-regulated.
For one thing, it’s cost-prohibitive, and many small companies will go out of business. The weight is another problem. They are very heavy, and that means much smaller payloads.
Mike Starsky of JKC Trucking appeared on National Report earlier today and said he supports Green energy, but this is being shoved down truckers’ throats. For one thing, costs are astronomical. Many truckers already operate with fewer vehicles, and many smaller companies will go out of business. With inflation, it’s particularly problematic.
He said, “We don’t have any infrastructure for these yet.” Another thing is “driving range. The driving range is nowhere near what we have now.” The weight of these batteries is such that it would mean far less payload.
Mr. Starsky said repairing these trucks is difficult and expensive. It’s hard to even find people who can fix them.
What isn’t mentioned is there is no proper waste removal for the batteries.
Truckers, business leaders, and industry advocates who spoke with National Review agree with all the points Mr. Starsky made.
They argue that the up-front costs of electric trucks and charging equipment are too steep, particularly for small firms and independent drivers. They say that the technology is too new to rely on, and the limited range of the electric trucks won’t work for companies whose drivers travel long distances. And they doubt that the state will be able to ramp up the charging infrastructure fast enough, a massive effort that will not only require building enough high-powered chargers but also ensuring that they’re strategically installed in the right places and that there is enough capacity during peak charging times.
There were fewer than 300 electric trucks on California roads last year. Under the regulations, there will need to be more than half a million by 2035.
[…]
“I’ve been working on air-board regulations for close to 13 years now. I’ve never seen a rule where there will probably be nearly zero percent compliance because it’s just not possible to figure out a way around some of these intractable issues around the technology,” said Chris Shimoda, senior vice president of government affairs with the California Trucking Association.
Jeff Cox, president and co-owner of Madera-based Best Drayage in Northern California, told National Review that electric trucks make no sense yet. He would need a truck that can do 500 miles on one charge, which doesn’t exist yet. He added that fueling would take critical hours. It would cut revenue in half.
“What they’re doing is saying, basically, this is going to be a 20-hour workday,” he said.
CALIFORNIA IS TRYING TO SUE BIG OIL OUT OF EXISTENCE
While this is going on, California sued five major oil companies along with America’s biggest oil and gas lobby, accusing them of causing climate change-related harm by lying to the public to downplay the “grave dangers” of fossil fuels.
The Leftists will do anything to destroy our energy sector as soon as possible. Gov. Newsom gets a lot of street creds for this.
In the last Democrat administration, Democrats tried to imprison gas and oil CEOs.
The lawsuit (FINAL-9-15-COMPLAINT), filed at the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco, on Sept. 15, claims that the energy giants’ actions—described in the complaint as “vile, base, and contemptible”—have caused tens of billions of dollars in damages.
California is accusing the defendants—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, and the fossil fuel trade association, the American Petroleum Institute (API)—of creating or contributing to various statewide climate-change-related harms, including allegedly destroying natural resources.
You can comment on the article after the ads and subscribe to the Daily Newsletter here if you would like a quick view of the articles of the day and any late news:
Produce has to be moved quickly, often with team drivers. If it wasn’t so destructive it would be fun to watch.
Get the hell out of this lost state. Let see how long they survive without any 18 wheelers on their highways. It just ain’t worth the hassle. Also, trucks not in compliance, can operate in the remaining 49 states, at least for the time being. In addition, no pick-ups being made at any of the California ports will force suppliers to find alternative ports to stay in business. In conclusion, the trucking industry can, and should, in retaliation for these dumb-ass rules, shut down the state.
The puppet Biden keeps pushing this sh-t! Tell 44 and his cohorts to stick it! These Communist are trying to bankrupt this great country! Vote every Demoncrap out of office if you love your country!! Lets send everyone of them out of this country!!!! The people have had it with this crap. If the Democrats cheat a idiot Biden in again then civil war is on the agenda for real Americans not Communist!
E V Big Rigs… NOT..
Madera Is Not Nothern California..
Middle at best.
Nuts. Thats what they all are. Nuts. Ideological nuts. This rule will pull the plug on the drain of the nation. Trucks keep the nation running and supplied with needed products to keep everything going. This decision by the epa will put a stop to anything resembling a competent supply chain. Just sayin’.
This seems to be a great time to invest in the U.S. east coast ports. Obviously, the trucking industry won’t be able to handle the ports in California. This will redirect enormous amounts of shipping containers to other ports. I expect the trucking industry to get more loads on the east coast, as the containers will start filling those ports, instead. This will be a boon to Georgia and Florida, and another devastating loss of revenue for California. That state is dying before our eyes, but the lemmings in California won’t do anything except keep jumping off the cliff. The climate change religion seems incurable for these irrational, unthinking zombies.
East coast ports would increase time and costs to what’s currently arriving in California ports.
I am on the Union Pacific and we have stack trains to and from west coast ports. West coast loads containers to east coast, load onto ships for Med and Europe (Land Bridge) And vice versa.
I counted the fairly recent container pacer stacks last month and they are ok, but getting kind of… thin on tonnage. Usually in good times about 500 TEUs on 4 engines at track speed of 80. These days a few times a week two engines and maybe 150 TEUs sort of amble by without being in any particular hurry.
Fortunately its fairly quiet in my county for now. I can almost pick out particular engineers by their whistling round the clock almost.
I worked out of Baltimore Dundalk and other ports up and down east coast in my time as well as the inland rail ports at front royal and others. Lets just say that I am happy to be avoiding that. Its NOT BAD but Norfolk, Charlestown and other ports are gaining tonnage as they dredge deep and expand for the new really big Container ships coming into the Global Trade now. They are too big to fit under the bay bridge or in Baltimore Harbor. So its interesting.
The big problem right now is barging on the old Mississippi. We are in drought and not enough water below St Louis. So its 110 dollars a ton with loading tonnage limits that will snarl the harvesting as it happens now in our basin. Slow everything down a little.
True. The Panama Canal is actually the biggest consideration. But during the pandemic, port traffic shifted to the east coast. This will happen again. If the non-existent trucks aren’t there to pick up the container, then “cheap shipping” is absolutely irrelevant. Hundreds of ships waiting weeks or months to unload, with no trucks to haul, will naturally shift the traffic to other ports. It’s already happened once. But now, it will be a permanent shift, since it’s not a temporary policy change.
Fortunately, for the time being, there will still be access to ports in other west coast ports. However, these idiots in these are quite capable of cutting their own throat by enacting the same rules to show their solidarity with california.
Currently the Panama Canal is only running at half capacity due to very low water levels so that’s not really an option either.