U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) claimed a temporary victory after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would reverse former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s last-minute decision to stop enforcing air emission standards for some heavy-duty trucks.
On his last day as EPA Administrator, Pruitt signed a document that gave Fitzgerald Glider Kits permission to continue building high-polluting glider trucks for two years.
“With Mr. Pruitt out, I’m glad to see EPA will reverse one of the most egregious – and likely illegal – environmental proposals of his tenure. His senseless proposal ignored the science put out by his own EPA and created a Clean Air Act loophole for an industry friend, all while putting the health of Americans and our environment at risk,” said Carper. “Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction, but the proposed rule to indefinitely exempt some of the dirtiest trucks on the roads that emit 55 times the air pollution of new trucks, is still on the table. I’ll keep pushing to see that this misguided proposal is one that never gets finalized.”
Earlier this month, Carper wrote Acting Administrator Wheeler asking him to withdraw EPA’s proposal to repeal air emission standards for glider trucks, “which appears to largely benefit a single company while being opposed by the vast majority of industry, and was influenced by an industry-funded ‘study’ that is currently the subject of an official investigation into research misconduct for failing to adhere to basic scientific standards.”
Glider trucks are new trucks using old, rebuilt diesel engines mostly manufactured between 1998 and 2002.
When left unregulated, glider trucks could create one-third of emissions from heavy-duty trucks by 2025, despite comprising only 5 percent of the heavy-duty fleet, a release from Carper’s office stated.
EPA’s 2016 “Phase 2” medium and heavy-duty rule finalized regulations to reduce glider truck emissions.
EPA’s own analysis concluded that unregulated glider truck emissions could prematurely kill thousands of people and increase instances of lung cancer, lung disease, heart disease and asthma, the Carper release stated.
