From rural communities to busy city streets, New York State is vast and diverse. But all its communities share a similar reliance on the state’s interconnected trucking industry — nearly 90% of communities in New York depend exclusively on trucks to move their goods.
Meeting the needs of the entire Empire State, keeping goods flowing and shelves stocked, requires a deeply complex and nuanced transportation and logistics network with commercial vehicles ranging from light-duty to heavy-duty, each serving different roles based on operational demands.
This diversity is something which lawmakers in Albany failed to recognize when they implemented a one-size-fits-all approach to their electrification goals, originally written by legislators in California, to regulate the industry with the 2021 Advanced Clean Trucks, or ACT, rule.
On its surface, ACT establishes a noble goal to electrify the trucking industry by requiring a minimum percentage of trucks sold to consist of zero emission vehicles, or ZEVs. Since the rule’s implementation at the start of the year, truck dealers are now required to sell a certain percentage of electric trucks, depending on the class of vehicle, in order to continue to sell gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles without steep financial penalties.
Long-haul trucks deliver food to grocery stores across the state, box trucks deliver online orders door to door in New York City, lumber trucks power construction sites in the Hudson Valley, and garbage trucks keep our communities clean. We run vehicles of all shapes and sizes, along short routes and long, on various fuel sources to meet the everyday needs of New Yorkers. This complex system allows us to support the varied economy of New York all while focused on reducing our impact on the environment. While there are applications in last-mile and urban delivery that support the use of electric trucks, a large segment of the trucking industry is not yet ready for electric trucks, particularly given the absolute lack of a public charging infrastructure across the state.
Which is why Albany’s insistence on sticking to the outdated nature of the ACT rule is going to set New Yorkers back on their goal to reach carbon neutrality and reduce emissions statewide.
During the last few years, after serving as a member of the Climate Action and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) Transportation Advisory Panel, I was hopeful the promises made by New York’s leaders would advance our state to the next generation of emissions reduction policies. Unfortunately, the promises made have not been promises kept. I expressed concern when the ACT was adopted in 2021 that there was no charging infrastructure to support it and was assured by leaders they were working on it.
To date, however, New York has abdicated its responsibility to establish the infrastructure that would have paved the way for the increased use of electric commercial vehicles — not one publicly available commercial charging station has been built in New York since the adoption of the rule. A stark failure, given that a prime opportunity was missed with the overhaul of the New York State Thruway’s rest areas. State leaders missed the mark by not including commercial charging stations as part of the project.
Despite this, the Department of Environmental Conservation is forcing through an electric mandate on the trucking industry in search of a “win.”
Ironically, the DEC at the same time has acknowledged that the timeline and infrastructure challenges are unworkable — pausing enforcement and implementation of these same standards for itself and for all municipalities. Yet private sector employers, fleet owners, and everyday working New Yorkers are being held to an impossible standard — and left to fend for themselves in trying to meet a mandate that even the state can’t achieve. Real people will be losing real jobs, and companies will be leaving the state, or worse yet, just going out of business. None of this is necessary. We can work towards electrification — and other emission reduction solutions — together if we have more time.
If New York truly wants to cut emissions, it must stop treating the trucking industry like the problem and start treating us like the partner we’ve always been. We are committed to cleaner, more sustainable operations — but the path forward must be grounded in reality. The state can’t enforce mandates it hasn’t prepared for, then blame the industry for failing to comply. We’re not asking for a pass — we’re asking for a plan. One that includes infrastructure, incentives and the flexibility to incorporate a range of proven, clean technologies. We want to help meet these goals — but we need New York to meet us halfway.
Kendra Hems is president of the Trucking Association of New York.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New York has failed its own electric mandate. How New Yorkers will pay | Opinion
Reporting by Kendra Hems / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
