WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will propose on Friday new standards for big trucks designed to cut carbon emissions and lower fuel costs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing an unnamed person familiar with the proposal, the newspaper said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department would announce draft standards for big trucks, including garbage trucks, 18-wheelers and heavy-duty pickup trucks.
Trucking industry executives and lobbyists familiar with the process had said earlier that proposed rules, part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to curb greenhouse gas emissions, would probably call for boosting fuel efficiency nearly 40 percent by 2027 from 2010 levels.
The Wall Street Journal said the proposals would apply to big trucks built after 2018, and follow up on standards announced by the Obama administration in 2011 for models built between 2014 and 2018.
"The standards will also, for the first time ever, regulate trailers that are part of 18-wheelers and other big hauling trucks and issue tougher limits on the part of the truck hauling the trailer, called the tractor, according to multiple industry officials," it said.
The standards are expected to be completed next year after a public comment period, the Journal said.
Truckers say the industry is willing to accept tighter federal standards, since motor fuel accounts for about a third of its costs, but various segments of the trucking industry disagree about how federal rules should be structured and implemented.
(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Eric Beech and Peter Cooney)
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