Obama Administration Pushes for More Efficient Delivery Trucks

Safeway Delivery Truck
Photo Courtesy Paul Sullivan 

 

President Barack Obama spoke on Tuesday regarding climate change and linked it to a need for reduced fuel consumption. He stated that his administration intends to create stronger fuel-efficiency standards in March of 2016 for delivery trucks.


Heavy-duty, delivery trucks currently comprise just 4% of the vehicles on the nation's roadways, yet are responsible fore about 20% of the climate changing gases created by the transportation sector. President Obama sees this as an opportunity to enact meaningful climate change.

He outlined three powerful benefits/incentives for the reduced emission standards during his speach on Tuesday: 1) The U.S. will become less dependent on imported oil. 2) The reduced shipping costs will translate into savings for consumers. 3) The reduced emissions will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, which is blamed for global warming.

Safeway has set itself as a leader on the issue; spending money on cleaner, more efficient trucks.The company has also improved truck aerodynamics and is using better tires and trailers. Safeway has long been committed to operating its business in the most environmentally responsible and fuel efficient manner.

The Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency are currently developing new standards for the 2018 vehicle model year. The new, March 2016 emission standards would exist in addition to the yearly model standards.

Professor DuVivier Honored by the American Association of Law Schools

In January of 2014, Professor K.K. DuVivier received a new honor at the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS). First elected by her peers as a Section officer in 2010, Professor DuVivier is now the Chair of the AALS Section on Natural Resources and Energy Law.  

The AALS is a non-profit corporation created with the goal of “improv[ing] the legal profession through legal education.” In its role as “legal education’s principal representative,” the AALS advocates before the federal government and other national associations the interests of its over 170 member law schools and approximately 25 schools that are not members but who pay AALS dues. Another service the AALS has provided since 1922 is its Directory, which lists biographical and contact information for over 10,000 teachers in law schools across the United States.

The Section on Natural Resources and Energy Law includes over 300 law professors in AALS schools. One of Professor DuVivier’s primary responsibilities as chair is to coordinate the 2015 program for the Section at the next AALS annual conference scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C. from January 2 through 5, 2015. She will lead the section in scheduling the program, making a call for proposals from potential panelists, reviewing submissions, coordinating additional high-profile speakers, and arranging for publication of program papers. Other major responsibilities include coordinating a day-long field trip along with the AALS Section on Environmental Law and any other of the Section on Natural Resources and Energy new initiatives this year, including the possibility of additional Section networking opportunities and an award for leaders in the Natural Resources and Energy law fields.  

Rumor has it that Sturm College of Law Professor Jan Laitos was the founder of the AALS Section on Natural Resources and Energy in 1992. According to Professor Laitos, “The AALS did not have any sections that sufficiently covered the research interests of professors who worked in the area of natural resources law. DU’s expertise in this area made us natural leaders to give it more attention with its own AALS section. I’m excited that natural resources and energy law has gained more converts and the Section has prospered. I’m also delighted that Professor DuVivier is carrying on the DU tradition of leading in this area.”

K.K. as a geologist in 1967.

ProfessorDuVivier has a long history in natural resources. She worked as a field geologist before law school, and she practiced natural resources law for eight years, much at national law firms such as Sherman & Howard and Arnold & Porter, before entering academia. Her book, THE RENEWABLE ENERGY READER, was released by Carolina Academic Press in 2011. 

Professor DuVivier says, “I am most excited about making the Section more vibrant and inclusive and about using my leadership role in as prestigious an organization as the AALS to help raise the profile of the Sturm College of Law’s outstanding Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program.”