Swordsmyth
07-07-2018, 07:44 PM
In one of his final acts at the Environmental Protection Agency, outgoing EPA administrator Scott Pruitt quietly gifted a pollution loophole to diesel freight truck manufacturers (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/politics/epa-pollution-loophole-glider-trucks.html) who had lobbied the administration to allow them to continue making trucks relying on old engines with fewer environmental safeguards.
As the New York Times reports (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/glider-trucks-loophole-pruitt.html), during the last few hours of Pruitt’s tenure as one of the shortest-serving EPA administrators in history, the agency moved to allow some heavy-duty tractor-trailers to continue evading pollution standards.
The loophole in question is regarding so-called “gliders,” or heavy-duty trucks whose bodies have been built around older engines and transmissions to cut down manufacturing costs. These old engines typically don’t adhere to modern emissions standards designed to protect the air from pollutants, including particulates that can raise the risk of asthma and lung cancer.
The Obama administration took several approaches to address gliders, sometimes called “super polluters” because they result in so much more air pollution compared to modern trucks. One Obama-era rule required gliders to meet the same emissions standards as freight trucks with new engines. After noticing an uptick in gliders manufactured by companies hoping to evade regulations, Obama’s EPA also imposed an annual 300-unit cap on new gliders per each trucking company.
The EPA on Friday moved to end enforcement of the 300-unit cap on gliders, ceasing the government’s attempt to limit the number of these super polluters in production. EPA officials confirmed to the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/glider-trucks-loophole-pruitt.html) that the agency will not enforce the cap through the end of 2019. Though the limit technically took effect in January, truck manufacturers will be allowed to sidestep it — and agency officials will contact them to explain they are permitted to do so.
More at: https://thinkprogress.org/scott-pruitt-glider-loophole-epa-8663fb72aa2d/
As the New York Times reports (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/glider-trucks-loophole-pruitt.html), during the last few hours of Pruitt’s tenure as one of the shortest-serving EPA administrators in history, the agency moved to allow some heavy-duty tractor-trailers to continue evading pollution standards.
The loophole in question is regarding so-called “gliders,” or heavy-duty trucks whose bodies have been built around older engines and transmissions to cut down manufacturing costs. These old engines typically don’t adhere to modern emissions standards designed to protect the air from pollutants, including particulates that can raise the risk of asthma and lung cancer.
The Obama administration took several approaches to address gliders, sometimes called “super polluters” because they result in so much more air pollution compared to modern trucks. One Obama-era rule required gliders to meet the same emissions standards as freight trucks with new engines. After noticing an uptick in gliders manufactured by companies hoping to evade regulations, Obama’s EPA also imposed an annual 300-unit cap on new gliders per each trucking company.
The EPA on Friday moved to end enforcement of the 300-unit cap on gliders, ceasing the government’s attempt to limit the number of these super polluters in production. EPA officials confirmed to the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/glider-trucks-loophole-pruitt.html) that the agency will not enforce the cap through the end of 2019. Though the limit technically took effect in January, truck manufacturers will be allowed to sidestep it — and agency officials will contact them to explain they are permitted to do so.
More at: https://thinkprogress.org/scott-pruitt-glider-loophole-epa-8663fb72aa2d/