I’m a fall girlie. I wait every year for those precious few days we get in Alabama that feel like fall. Fall temperatures after a long hot summer revive me; they give me a burst of energy.
But this year, they haven’t come … and it seems to get worse every year.
I remember when I was a kid hating that I needed to cover my Halloween costume with a jacket, but this year – many moons later – I wore a tank top and shorts with the temperature above 80 degrees.
If you Google U.S. Climate Change, one of the top results is “The Climate Crisis: Working Together for Future Generations” from the U.S. Department of State website.
The future generation. That’s what I worry about. I gave birth to a baby girl in April. What will the temperature be in two years when I’m walking her down the sidewalk trick-or-treating?
My family recycles and recently invested in new energy-efficient appliances, among other things, but that’s a small drop in the overheating ocean. Transportation, however, as we all know, is one of the biggest strains on our environment. Truck manufacturers have recognized as much, putting zero-emissions goals in place as we experience record-breaking heat, floods, storms, drought and wildfires globally.
The U.S. has set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% below 2005 levels in 2030. But that could change once President-elect Donald Trump takes office next January. During his campaign, he made promises to rescind energy-sector regulations that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help reach that target. During his previous term, he pulled the U.S. out of The Paris Agreement and is expected to do so again after the Biden administration re-entered the U.S. into the agreement.
Trump, on Monday, said his appointment of former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions.” The EPA nominee will have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Several trucking industry leaders, including Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer, National Association of Small Trucking Companies President David Owen and American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear, have congratulated Trump on his victory and lauded him for his deregulatory stance because it would lower operational costs for fleets.
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"We look forward to working with the Trump Administration and Congressional allies to advance a pro-trucker agenda, which includes expanding truck parking, stopping unworkable environmental mandates, and preventing a dangerous speed limiter mandate,” Spencer said in a statement.
I’m encouraged that rollbacks won’t stop the industry’s efforts to move to greener methods altogether.
“The Trump administration cannot derail the transition to clean energy. To be sure, it can slow it down,” said Ann Carlson, professor of environmental law at UCLA School of Law and former acting administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in a UCLA Q&A on how a second Trump term will impact environmental and climate policy. “The transportation sector is electrifying, with automakers offering 117 new electric vehicle models to consumers, making massive investments in transitioning to EVs and making those investments in the United States. The global push is even bigger, especially in Europe and China. Again, Trump can slow things down, but we aren’t returning to the days of fossil fuel dominance.”
As truck manufacturers continue their path to zero emissions, I do hope trucking companies will follow suit, even if at a slower rate, for the sake of overall public and environmental health. I believe the trucking industry is overregulated, but as a new mother who is concerned for her child’s future, I hope other areas (maybe we can look at ELDs) are targeted for deregulation more so than those that negatively impact our environment.
