Midwest

Midwest Truckers Warn Of Catastrophe if California’s Insanity Spreads

Midwest truckers are concerned California trucking policies might infect the Land of Lincoln. The trucking market is vulnerable enough now as is, stated Don Schaefer, executive vice president of the Mid-West Truckers Association, and following California’s lead would be “catastrophic.”

With high fuel rates and labor scarcities, some trucks are currently parked, Schaefer stated.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) along with the Union of Concerned Scientists commissioned a report supporting a conversion to no- and low-emission trucks and buses in Illinois.

“Freight is a major part of the Chicago area economy, but air pollution caused by diesel emissions disproportionately harms Black and Latino communities in the region,” Jose Acosta Cordova of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization said. “This report shows how the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule and the NOx Omnibus rule will set Illinois on the path towards achieving zero-emission freight and mitigating the negative impacts of diesel-powered vehicles.”

The report examined three policy situations Illinois and other states in the midwest might embrace. Two look like California guidelines like requiring increased varieties of new trucks to be zero-emission trucks.

Schaefer stated the trucking market supports moving towards cleaner energy, however, it’s not there.

“Sooner or later we’re going to get to that point, but it’s not going to be overnight,” Schaefer said. “We’ve made great steps in the last couple of years, and it’s going to take a couple of years more to get to the point where we can have a zero-emissions fleet.”

The NRDC report claim more ecological policies will develop more clean energy jobs.

“The strongest scenario would add over 14,000 new jobs by 2045,” NRDC said in a news release. “The largest number of added jobs are in electrical component manufacturing and charging infrastructure construction, requiring many well-paid electricians and electrical engineers.”

Schaefer stated including more guidelines comparable to greatly regulated California, as the NRDC report suggests, would do the opposite.

“It’s across the board, the state economy would suffer immeasurably if we were to adopt some of these California regulations in Illinois,” he said.

Another regulatory move Schaefer stated California is cutting deals with the labor unions.

Independent midwest trucking specialists have the ability to transport, operate in building and construction, and do other things mid- to durable trucks can do. Schaefer stated California’s goals to eliminate that self-reliance, requiring truckers to operate in bigger, union operations.

“It’s gonna be bad for California, but it’s also going to be something that every other state is going to look at and say, ‘If we do this, then the total trucking industry from the independent contractor standpoint will be in turmoil,’” Schaefer said.

H/T Just The News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Previous Article
ARRESTED

Breaking: 2 Dem Leaders ARRESTED

Next Article
electric

This One Thing Is Stopping Police From Doing Their Job

Related Posts