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MY TESTIMONY CALLING FOR THE "CLIMATE IMPERATIVE" TO STRENGTHEN THE FINAL "HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE FUEL Subject: ECONOMY AND CARBON EMISSIONS STANDARDS" EVEN MORE!! 

From: © 201 3 Email Support Team (dennisnelson987@yahoo.com) 

To: dennisnelson987@yahoo.com; 

Date: Wednesday, August 5. 201 5 12:17 PM 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)/U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Public Hearing [Docket EPAHQOAR20140827], Palmer House Hilton Hotel, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603; 

Thursday, August 6, 2015, 9 AM. 

My name is DENNIS R. NELSON, and my mailing address is: P.O. Box 4453, Chicago, Illinois 60680-4453. My 

email address is: dennisnelson987@yahoo.com. I am one of the original, modern environmental/energy activists 

ever since around the very first "EARTH DAY" (Wednesday, April 22, 1970). I have a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) 

Degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from Dana College, Blair, Nebraska. I am a qualified energyenvironmental researcher, writer, speaker, and organizer. (More than 45 years ago, our climate problem was called the "greenhouse effect." Nowadays, I prefer to call our climate crisis the more appropriately accurate phrases "human-caused climate disruption" or "human-made disruptive climate change." Unfortunately, we have not taken 

all the necessary actions fast enough to really deal with "human-induced climate disruption"--and the "climate clock" is ticking!) There is a SENSE OF 

IMMEDIATE URGENCY inherently built into our current situation WHICH REQUIRES THAT WE DO MUCH MORE OF THE RIGHT THINGS AT A QUICKER PACE. First off, I will offer MY CONGRAT~TIONS. Thank you for proposing the standards to maker newer heavy-duty vehicles more fuel efficient in the first place. Secondly, I will 

offer MY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM FOR IMPROVEMENT. THE "HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY 

AND CARBON EMISSIONS STANDARDS" SHOULD BE MADE EVEN STRONGER IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE 

ABOUT A 40% IN FUEL SAVINGS BY 2025!! (This would use cost-effective technologies that are now being 

deployed or demonstrated.) An ADDITIONAL 40 MILLION METRIC TONS of climate-disrupting pollution would be 

avoided every year by 2035, which would be equivalent to closing down around 12 coal-fired stations. Another 

great thing about FINALIZING EVEN TOUGHER FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS for newer tractor-trailers, 

vocational vehicles, and heavy-duty pickup trucks and cargo vans is that THEY COMPRISE A "'NO-REGRETS' 

TRANSPORTATION ENERGY EFFICIENCY STRATEGY"--besides promoting climate protection, they will also have other positive benefits (like cutting our oil consumption by an additional 200,000 barrels each day in 2035, reducing hazardous air pollutants from idling trucks and operating oil refineries , saving the average tractor-trailer driver roughly $30,000 annually in fuel costs in 2025, reducing the expenses for the owners of truck fleets , and 'driving'--pun intended!--the "'green' energy" innovation for inherently cleaner heavy-duty 

vehicles). In conclusion, TAKING MY ADVICE IN 

STRENGTHENING THE FINAL HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE ECONOMY AND CARBON EMISSIONS STANDARDS 

EVEN MORE will improve our public health, ecological health , economic well-being, and energy security. That 

concludes my testimony. Thank you! 

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