The American Petroleum Institute (API), an organization representing the natural gas and oil industry, recently urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to modify a proposal for new tailpipe emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles.
“We share the goal of reduced emissions across the broader economy and, specifically, those from energy production, transportation and use by society,” Will Hupman, API vice president of downstream policy, said. “While we support technology-neutral federal policies that drive GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions reductions in the transportation sector, we are concerned that this proposal, as well as EPA’s light- and medium-duty proposed GHG rule, seriously misses the mark with respect to reducing carbon emissions from the entire transportation sector.”
The organization lists its major concerns in comments submitted to the EPA. They include a focus on zero-emission vehicle technologies while ignoring the challenges associated with technology and infrastructure readiness, and undermining U.S. energy security by forcing a greater reliance on foreign sources for raw materials and critical minerals.
“EPA’s focus on zero-emission vehicle solutions, and specifically battery electric vehicles, ignores fuel- and vehicle-based options that could better accomplish the agency’s objectives to expeditiously achieve greater transportation sector-related emission reductions from the entire vehicle fleet at lower cost,” Hupman said.
Formed in 1919, API has approximately 600 members.