U.S. DOT Issues Draft Regulation On State Transportation Emissions

The U.S. transportation sector has overtaken the country’s electric power system as the top U.S. source of greenhouse gas emissions. To help reduce transportation-related pollution, on July 7, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHA) released a draft regulation that would require U.S. states and cities to measure transportation-related emissions and develop their own reduction targets.

The regulation is necessary because the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Joe Biden last year allocated nearly $6.5 billion to help local and state governments reduce highway-related emissions. Those funds are contingent on recipients developing their own emissions reduction strategies.

Last week’s proposal contains no specific requirements for emissions reduction goals. Instead the draft said the new regime would allow states and cities to determine which targets “are appropriate for their communities and … work for their respective climate change and other policy priorities.” State and city transportation departments would be tasked with reporting their progress on their emissions targets twice a year.

“With today’s announcement, we are taking an important step forward in tackling transportation’s share of the climate challenge,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a press release. “Our approach gives states the flexibility they need to set their own emission reduction targets, while providing them with resources from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to meet those targets and protect their communities.”

According to the FHA, the proposed regulation would add greater transparency to the work that 24 U.S. states and the District of Columbia are already doing under state law greenhouse gas target-setting requirements. Click here to read the draft rules.