WASHINGTON, (Nov. 18, 2004) — Carriers will not be asking for a delay of 2007 diesel emissions requirements, confirms American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves.

Graves ruled out such a request yesterday in a speech to the Japan International Transport Institute Seminar on Transportation and the Environment in Washington, D.C. “Many environmental groups have been concerned that ATA will seek a delay in the implementation of the rule. I can tell you without reservation that ATA does not intend to challenge EPA’s diesel engine emission standards set to take effect on January 1, 2007,” Graves told the gathering.

He said that new engine standards introduced in October 2002 had not been properly tested and many companies refused to purchase those engines. However, he explained, “2007 appears to be a different scenario completely. Engine manufacturers remain on schedule to have test engines in the hands of motor carriers well in advance of total implementation. We remain concerned about reliability of the engines and a potential loss of fuel economy, but these questions do not rise to the level of needing a delay in the rule.”

Graves also said the ATA is exploring the possibility of financial incentives to motor carriers to purchase these engines. “The cost on the new engines will be exponentially higher than today’s engines. We don’t want to see a repeat of the disruptions we witnessed in 2002,” he said. “In March 2004, the U.S. Government Accountability Office suggested that incentives to the industry were one possible avenue to achieve the environmental success sought by EPA.”

Earlier this month Today’s Trucking reported how truck OEMs, under the umbrella of the ATA, have been making progress on the incentives issue. The coalition hopes to take a formal case to Capitol Hill by the end of this year or early 2005. Some of the possibilities being discussed include tax credits, purchase rebates, or purchase credits. Another plan being floated involves accelerated depreciation.

With much of the attention swinging away from technological concerns, the movement for incentives has slowly begun to pick up steam, says Patrick Charbonneau, International Truck and Engine’s vice-president of regulatory and technology affairs. “Now that there’s consistency among the (OEMs) on technology — which is essentially an evolution of the ’02 and ’04 product — the swamp has been drained, and the major concern for everybody has switched to figuring out how to reduce the impact (of cost),” he told Today’s Trucking.

At home, the Canadian Trucking Alliance is taking a similar message to Ottawa. The CTA reviewed with the Minister of the Environment Stephane Dion pre-buy events of 2002 and the incentive movement in the U.S. The truck group hopes the minister will act as a champion on this cause.