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6 • February 15-28, 2021 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
Biden’s ‘ambitious’ climate initiative targets oil, coal, natural gas sectors
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — In the most ambitious
U.S. effort to stave off the worst effects of climate
change, President Joe Biden issued executive
orders Wednesday, Jan. 27, to cut oil, gas
and coal emissions and double energy production
from offshore wind turbines.
The orders target federal subsidies for oil
and other fossil fuels and halt new oil and gas
leases on federal lands and waters. They also
aim to conserve 30% of the country’s lands and
ocean waters in the next 10 years and move to
an all-electric federal vehicle fleet.
Biden’s sweeping plan is aimed at slowing
human-caused global warming, but it also carries
political risk for the president and Democrats
as oil- and coal-producing states face job losses
from moves to sharply increase U.S. reliance on
clean energy such as wind and solar power.
“We can’t wait any longer”’ to address the
climate crisis, Biden said at the White House.
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“We see with our own eyes. We know it in our
bones. It is time to act.”
He said his orders will “supercharge our
administration’s ambitious plan to confront the
existential threat of climate change.”
Biden has set a goal of eliminating pollution
from fossil fuel in the power sector by
2035 and from the U.S. economy overall by
2050, speeding what is already a market-driven
growth of solar and wind energy and lessening
the country’s dependence on oil and gas. The
aggressive plan is aimed at slowing humancaused
global warming that is magnifying extreme
weather events such as deadly wildfires
in the West and drenching rains and hurricanes
in the East.
Biden acknowledged the political risk, repeatedly
stating that his approach would create
jobs in the renewable energy and automotive
sectors to offset any losses in oil, coal or
natural gas.
AND
PER TEAM
“When I think of climate change and the answers
to it, I think of jobs,” Biden said. “We’re
going to put people to work. We’re not going to
lose jobs. These aren’t pie-in-the-sky dreams.
These are concrete actionable solutions. And
we know how to do this.’”
In a change from previous administrations
of both parties, Biden also is directing agencies
to focus help and investment on the low-income
and minority communities that live closest to
polluting refineries and other hazards, and the
oil- and coal-patch towns that face job losses as
the U.S. moves to sharply increase its reliance
on wind, solar and other energy sources that do
not emit climate-warming greenhouse gases.
Biden pledged to create up to a million jobs
building electric cars, as well as installing solar
panels, wind turbines, “capping abandoned
walls, reclaiming mines, turning old brownfield
sites into the new hubs of economic growth.”
See Ambitious on p9 m
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uptick in activity — and when there is a sudden
uptick in activity that is more than what people
were expecting, there is a shortage of drivers and
you see pricing on the trucking side going higher.
That’s exactly where we’re at right now.”
Chris Thropp, president of Pennsylvaniabased
Sage Corp., which operates Sage Truck
Driving Schools, disagreed, saying he expects a
more immediate impact on the number of trucking
jobs directly related to fracking.
“My general judgment, given that they will
be banning fracking on federal land and making
the whole regulatory process for oil and gas
more difficult, is there are going to be fewer and
fewer jobs for truck drivers. That’s a shame because
they really are good jobs and that’s what
really has attracted people, they can make a good
amount of money,” Thropp said.
“We had people coming from out west who
already knew they were going to go to North Dakota
and West Texas, they had jobs waiting for
them and they were really very high paying jobs,”
he continued. “I do anticipate, given the kind of
regulatory clamp that they’re going to put on fossil
fuel generally, you’re going to see less opportunity
for drivers.”
Thropp said that from the enhanced regulatory
landscape governing fracking and other
fossil fuel production, it’s a short hop to other
regulations in the name of environmental quality.
These, he said, will potentially be equally difficult
for the industry to absorb.
“We’ve already seen the impact, particularly
the emissions standards on trucks, because the
diesel particulate filters (DPFs) have been very
difficult to deal with,” he said. “Especially for
students, where our trucks don’t run at highway
speeds and temperatures, the DPF doesn’t really
work. We have very expensive repairs as a result
of that. That’s just one example of what’s occurring
with environmental regulations that aren’t
thought through very well.”
According to a report last November by the
International Transport Forum (ITF), freight accounts
for 7% of total global CO2 emissions,
with trucking being the largest contributor. Given
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John
Kerry speaks during a press briefing at the
White House.
this statistic, the industry hasn’t been standing
still when it comes to modifying equipment and
protocols to improve its environmental impact,
such as exploring creative ways to reduce miles
logged either while empty or at less-than-truckload.
Empty miles are estimated to have generated
about 17% of greenhouse gas emissions in
the U.S. in 2017, per Convoy Research.
Greener trucks are also being developed by
several automakers, with Daimler, Volvo and
even Tesla at various stages of testing electric
models. The Western States Hydrogen Alliance
is among entities pushing hydrogen-electric
engine technology through various partnerships,
while other companies are exploring
ways to leverage renewable natural gas (RNG)
technology.
Advanced technology that helps drivers lock
in on optimal speeds and acceleration and which
rely on sensors for everything from tire pressure
to aerodynamics are also expected to greatly
improve fuel efficiency — all of which, Thropp
said, comes at a cost.
“I think there’s no question that climate
change is going to be a big focus of the Biden
administration, and I think there are a lot of
unknowns there in terms of equipment,” he
said. “For our particular business, as electrification
takes place and diesel engines are slowly
phased out and electric motors and electrified
vehicles are developed, the whole training program
has to be reassessed. That’s going to be
an enormous change.”
Despite all of this, Thropp remains optimistic
overall about the future of truck driving as a career.
“What drives people to go into this business,
mostly, is trucking provides a good income, and
it’s not a very long tail on the training time,” he
said. “There are definitely some developments on
the horizon, like automated driving, that could
end up attracting a lot more people. Newer trucks
that have automated transmissions and are safer
and more comfortable could end up attracting
people to the industry.”
In terms of driver training and the demand for
drivers, Thropp described his view as “bullish.”
“I think no matter what the technology is,
(trucking is) a very good job, regardless of whether
it’s diesel or electric trucks,” he stated. There’s
going to be a big demand for drivers.” 8