The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced plans to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the potential environmental impacts of the agency’s new fuel efficiency improvement program for commercial medium- and heavy-duty on-highway vehicles and work trucks.
The EIS will consider the potential environmental impacts of new standards starting with model year 2016 MD/HD vehicles and voluntary compliance standards for MY 2014-2015 MD/HD vehicles that NHTSA will be proposing pursuant to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
Today’s notice in the Federal Register initiates the National Environmental Policy Act scoping process by inviting comments from federal, state and local agencies, Indian tribes and the public to help identify the environmental issues and reasonable alternatives to be examined in the EIS. The scoping process will culminate in the preparation and issuance of a draft EIS, which will be made available for public comment. Scoping comments should be received on or before July 14, 2010.
To participate, go to www.regulations.gov; the docket number is NHTSA-2010-0079.
President Obama on May 21 signed a presidential memorandum directing NHTSA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to jointly issue the nation’s first fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards on new medium- and heavy-duty trucks, beginning with MY 2014. The president directed that EPA and NHTSA try to issue a final rule by July 30, 2011.
