This week, the ATS staff testified at an EPA field hearing in opposition to the EPA’s proposal to repeal the Glider Vehicle rule – also known as the “dirty diesel rule.”
Glider vehicles are old diesel engines, usually reclaimed from trucks that have been in a wreck, that are reconditioned and put in a new vehicle chassis and sold as “new” trucks. The old diesel engines in the glider vehicles are not equipped with pollution control equipment that is required from newly manufactured trucks and therefore emit significantly more pollution. The EPA tested two “glider trucks” under highway cruise conditions and found that NOx emissions were 43 times higher and PM emission 55 times higher than comparable model year 2014 and 2015 vehicles.
Under the Obama Administration, the EPA issued a final rule to limit the number of glider vehicles that did not meet diesel engine emissions standards for new trucks. The Trump Administration EPA has proposed to repeal the Obama era EPA rule.
In commenting on the decision to repeal the Obama era rule, ATS staff Gary Ewart stated, “EPA’s decision flies in the face of common sense. EPA’s own test shows that particulate matter emissions from a glider truck were 450 times higher than a comparable 2014 or 2015 model year truck when tested in transient conditions.”
Public comments on EPA’s proposal to repeal the Glider Vehicle rule closes January 5th 2018.
