Rolling Smokestacks

Cleaning Up America's Trucks and Buses

Published May 2, 2000 Updated Mar 7, 2003

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If you have ever stood on a street corner as a large truck or bus accelerates from a stop, you are acutely aware of diesel pollution. Like passenger cars, trucks have become cleaner since pollution controls were first required in the 1970s. But the degree of cleanup has been a fraction of what regulators have asked of cars. As a result, trucks are now a substantial source of air pollution and other environmental problems. Although trucks account for under 6 percent of the miles driven by highway vehicles in the United States, they are responsible for:

  • one-quarter of smog-causing pollution from highway vehicles
  • over half the soot from highway vehicles
  • the majority of the cancer threat posed by air pollution in some urban areas
  • 6 percent of the nation's global warming pollution
  • over one-tenth of US oil consumption

Improvements to conventional diesel trucks are an absolute priority, but cleaner alternative fuels and advanced technologies are the ultimate solution.

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