The Environmental Protection Agency has refused to back a request from American Trucking Associations and the Canadian Trucking Alliance that foreign (non-U.S.) drivers be allowed to reposition their trailers between two points.
In a letter to ATA President Bill Graves and CTA Chief Executive Officer David Bradley, EPA said it was deferring to the Department of Homeland Security on U.S. rules that prevent foreign drivers from moving or repositioning their empty trailers.
Currently, drivers may only reposition an empty trailer if it is the same one with which the driver originally entered or will depart from the United States, Graves and Bradley said in a November letter to EPA and the U.S. departments of energy, transportation and commerce.
The two trucking leaders questioned the wisdom of the DHS rules and asked EPA and the departments to take up trucking’s cause.
The Graves-Bradley letter said the rules result in “double movement,” because incoming Canadian tractors unload and then must move on to a new location without a trailer or a load.
The two said such movement does not reduce fuel use or help reduce the empty backhauls and deadheading that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
