Industry coalition The Transport Project (TTP) has filed a legal appeal against the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling on gas use for Heavy-Duty Vehicles.
The lawsuit accompanies a Petition for Reconsideration that aims to get the government to reassess its latest Phase 3 ruling on natural gas in the transport supply chain.
“This Final Rule unfairly and capriciously manipulates outcomes to advance favoured technologies,’ a spokesperson for the TTP said. “Instead of accelerating the pace of all clean vehicle technology development and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful pollutants, this regulatory action would slow that progress by discouraging fleets from continuing the phase-in of more natural gas-fuelled trucks.”
The TTP contests key data used in the EPA Phase 3 ruling, which suggests that the annual average carbon intensity score of bioCNG was -126.42 gCO2e/MJ last year.
“The EPA Phase 3 Final Rule as written refuses to acknowledge or even attempt to refute those outcomes and validate RNG’s carbon-negative impact as an affordable, scalable, and available-now transportation fuel,” the coalition states.
LNG pathway
TTP is a national coalition of roughly 200 fleets across the US and has been a long-term supporter of natural gas as an effective pathway to net zero. It represents vehicle and engine manufacturers and dealers, servicers and suppliers, and fuel producers as well as specialised providers focused on decarbonization of North America’s transportation sector.
In June, the coalition in partnership with the California Renewable Transportation Alliance announced new findings that showed renewable natural gas (RNG) is already achieving carbon-negativity in Californian road transport fleets.
“California’s commercial fleets deploying trucks fuelled by RNG are achieving a cost effective, carbon-negative transportation outcome today without compromising existing business operations,” Daniel Gage, President of TTP said. “When used as a transportation fuel, RNG displaces gasoline and diesel in applications that are difficult – if not virtually impossible – to electrify.”
The coalition estimates that renewable natural gas (RNG) accounted for 97% of all on-road fuel used in natural gas vehicles in California in 2023 and sees potential for LNG infrastructure to add further capacity as new facilities come online.
