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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Will Hybrid Fire Trucks Be Next?

The Obama administration has proposed rules for heavy vehicles to cut fuel they use and fumes they belch. The new rules would apply to concrete mixers, tractor-trailers, heavy-duty pickups and even fire trucks. The toughest standards would be for heavy-cargo haulers, which would have to cut fuel consumption 23 percent, by 2018. The White House projects savings of 530 million barrels of oil and $50 billion in fuel costs over the lives of the vehicles covered by the new standards.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget that the Washington Fleet is made up of 13 mpg Suburbans or similar that ferry around our representatives. This is certainly not lead by example.

Maybe Syria can ask Obama to step down.

Anonymous said...

And all that is doing is driving the cost of these vehicles and maintinence sky high. Say goodbye to the trucking industry and millions of more jobs. But its ok because the gov't is now letting mexican trucking cross our borders without any regulations or safety standards.

Anonymous said...

7:23 PM

The trucking industry will never die. This country could not survive without them.

You're right about some of the mexican companies tho. But then, some of these American companies are just as bad, if not worse.

They need to get fuel economy up and emissions down. And they are about 20 years or more behind in rate increases.

Truckers are regulated out the ying yang. Shippers, receivers and theiving brokers need regulation. Any!

Most people don't even know that truckers have to pay some companies to unload their own merchandise. No, that isn't a typo.

And frequently truckers have to break the law to get loads delivered on time or be fined or have rate reduced because they are late.

You want a thankless and crappy job? Become a truck driver.