US-based Truck Trailer Manufacturer Association (TTMA) is following up with a federal appeals court to determine the status of the heavy duty truck and trailer greenhouse gas regulations standards (GHG2) review.
The GHG2 implementation was expected to occur January 2018. Last year, TTMA said that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reviewed its petitions for reconsideration of GHG2 for heavy duty trailers, agreeing that further rulemaking was needed.
According to a court filing dated 6 August, TTMA said that if the agencies are unable to commit to either issuing a new proposed rule or announcing that they intend to retain the current final rule within the next 90 days, it will consider moving this to court to lift the abeyance and set a briefing schedule in this case.
“Most heavy duty trailers are custom-ordered, and the required lead time for scheduling production means that trailer manufacturers are having to quote orders for 2018 delivery that will force customers to purchase equipment they do not want and that will not produce any fuel efficiencies in the customers’ operations,” according to TTMA. “Moreover, much of this equipment is still not certified by EPA, so trailer manufacturers are not certain if they can incorporate the equipment into future orders and still comply with the regulations.”