Operations

Slow going for idle-reduction weight exemptions

July 11, 2007

The 2005 Energy Policy Act, which provided for a 400-lb weight exemption for on-board idle-reduction systems, has turned out to be a good news/bad news joke of sorts for fleet owners and owner-operators. Contrary to the intentions of measure sponsors, the language of the new policy was interpreted to mean that each state would have to adopt the weight exemption and implement it, state-by-state.

Nearly two years later, only three states have taken action—Kansas, Oregon and Maine. According to the U.S. Department of Energy National Idling Reduction Network News, the governor of Kansas approved a bill implementing the exemption this April; Oregon’s governor approved a similar bill in May; and Maine is in the process of considering legislation that would implement the weight exemption there.

About the Author

Wendy Leavitt

Wendy Leavitt joined Fleet Owner in 1998 after serving as editor-in-chief of Trucking Technology magazine for four years.

She began her career in the trucking industry at Kenworth Truck Company in Kirkland, WA where she spent 16 years—the first five years as safety and compliance manager in the engineering department and more than a decade as the company’s manager of advertising and public relations. She has also worked as a book editor, guided authors through the self-publishing process and operated her own marketing and public relations business.

Wendy has a Masters Degree in English and Art History from Western Washington University, where, as a graduate student, she also taught writing.