President Obama will unveil the next phase of fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles on Tuesday.
During his visit to a Safeway distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., Obama will announce the new standards, which build upon the first standards the administration finalized for big rigs, semi trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles in 2011.
The new standards continue Obama’s promised “year of action,” a White House official said on Monday. In the last five days, including the new fuel economy standards, the administration has set a stricter tone on the president’s climate policies.
{mosads}On Friday, Obama pitched a $1 billion climate change resiliency fund, aimed at helping communities better prepare and prevent future extreme weather. And on Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry used harsher rhetoric to describe the changing climate and its impacts during his speech in Indonesia, calling it a weapon of mass destruction and announcing new efforts on the international front.
On Tuesday, the “president will direct the EPA and the Department of Transportation to develop and issue the next phase of medium and heavy-duty vehicle fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards by March 2016,” the official said.
Together, the actions signal a shift in tactics on climate change and renewed push to bring the issue front and center as an administration priority.