President's Message
By Dan Shell A labama truckers and truckers across the nation are set to do their part to clean the nation's air yet again with the implementation of new 2010 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) heavy-duty truck engine regulations that take a big bite out of nitrous oxide (NOx) emis-sions. And while the new technologies offer some increased fuel economy, the bottom line is a new emissions reduction system that adds to operational costs. With recent truck engine emissions regu-lations, truckers and their service depart-ments and techs have had to learn how to maintain and diagnose engines with new features such as exhaust gas recirculation systems, diesel particulate filters and diesel oxidation catalysts. The regulations date to the year 2000, when the EPA enacted a series of emissions reduction compliance deadlines for heavy-duty highway engines, with significant decreases in particulate matter (PM), nitrous oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbon emissions required in 2002, 2004 and 2007. In 2010, another round of regulations kicks in, this one requiring engine manufac-turers to reduce NOx emissions by another 80 percent. To meet such stringent specifications, most engine manufacturers have turned to selective catalytic reduction (SCR), an aftertreatment technology, in combination with exhaust gas recirculation. Manufacturers using SCR as their 2010 regulations compliance strategy include Daimler Trucks (Freightliner, Western Star), Cutting Fumes, Raising Costs New 2010 engines reduce emissions, add to costs. ATA_4Q09.qxp 11/25/09 08:59 AM Page 4