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img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>The General Accounting Office has pretty well completed its eagerly awaited report on the economic and environmental impacts of the major change in diesel emissions standards that has roiled the trucking industry for several years.

The GAO, at the behest of 19 members of the House of Representatives, has been charged with examining what happened when the new rules were implemented and to provide a preview of what we can expect when further emissions reductions go into effect in 2007 and 2010.

The congressmen acted in November 2002, asking GAO to evaluate the performance of the Environmental Protection Agency in developing the new rules, which led to a new generation of heavy-duty truck engines.

GAO is sharing at least a summary of its findings with interested parties, and had previously been expected to release its final report in the next few weeks.

However, GAO officials recently said the final report won’t be released to the public until March.

While we don’t know what’s in the GAO report, we expect that its findings could have a significant impact on how the EPA and the trucking industry deal with the next hurdles, which will include introduction of ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and further sharp cuts in allowable diesel engine emissions.

Thus it is imperative that the GAO report be made public, and soon.

This newspaper, together with the Technology & Maintenance Council, will host the Diesel Engine Emissions Summit II on March 16 in Fort Lauderdale. We expect that many, if not most, of the key executives in this industry will be in Florida to attend the summit and the concurrent TMC annual meeting.

Our first diesel summit, in Phoenix last June, was a pivotal event in sparking dialogue among the fleets, the truck supply industry and the government. And we expect the meeting in Fort Lauderdale to be just as important.

GAO could do the trucking industry a great service by releasing its report by the beginning of March, in time to inform the industry and then send representatives to the summit to explain the agency’s findings and answer questions that trucking officials will surely raise.

Improving the environment and making sure the economy continues to thrive, in large part thanks to the role trucking plays in moving the nation’s goods, are both in the government’s interest and in trucking’s interest. The goal must be to find a way to do both.

This article appeared in the Jan. 19 edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.