WASHINGTON — Lawmakers officially kicked off efforts to mitigate — if not derail — the Biden administration’s latest push to electrify the trucking industry during a hearing on Capitol Hill designed to spotlight challenges to powering up an electric grid capable of meeting the zero-emission timeline unveiled by federal regulators in late March.
The hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highway subcommittee on Tuesday prefaced a Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval expected to be introduced in the Senate on Wednesday.
If the resolution is approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the president — or if Congress can override the president’s veto — the Environmental Protection Agency’s Phase 3 greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks would be overturned.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the regulation’s biggest supporter among a panel of four witnesses was optimistic that the U.S. would be able to meet EPA’s zero-emission standards for truck manufacturers beginning with the 2027 model year.