D.C. Diesel-Vehicle Ban Averted

A plan to ban the registration of new diesel vehicles in the District of Columbia has been averted after trucking and automotive stakeholders testified the legislation would violate federal law and harm D.C.’s economy.

After hearing testimony at a Jan. 8 joint council committee meeting, District Councilwoman Mary Cheh, who chairs the Council’s Finance and Revenue Committee, said that the language would need to be revised.

“We quite now recognize this is not a provision that will stay as it is,” Cheh said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

As an alternative, Cheh suggested that the District could require that diesel fuel sold there be at least 5% biodiesel, an idea that the stakeholders said they would not oppose.

The original language in the bill would have not allowed the registration of any new vehicle beginning in 2018 that operates “exclusively on the combustion of petroleum diesel fuel.”

City officials said the proposed Sustainable D.C. Omnibus Act of 2013 was intended to encourage motor carriers to convert their fleets to alternative fuels, and not to block diesel trucks and cars from operating in the District. Cheh asked stakeholders to offer alternative legislative language to make it clear that it would not ban diesel trucks and cars.

Those who testified against the proposal included representatives from Daimler AG, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, or EMA and the Diesel Technology Forum.