EPA seeks new truck pollution rules
DETROIT – The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to rewrite rules that limit pollution from heavy trucks but that the EPA says slow the economy.
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler argues that new technology can help improve air quality, noting that the regulation of harmful nitrogen oxide emissions hasn’t been revamped since 2000.
EPA officials offered few details and said they were just beginning a regulatory process that can take years.
“We are doing it because it’s good for the environment,” said Wheeler, who notes that the EPA is under no requirement to redo the regulation. “Our goal is to update our standards so that we can get these new technologies in use across the country.”
The proposed “Cleaner Trucks Initiative” is drawing expressions of hope but skepticism from some environmental groups, especially because the EPA under President Donald Trump already has proposed relaxing emissions requirements for light passenger cars and trucks by freezing them at 2020 levels.
Andrew Linhardt, the Sierra Club’s deputy director for clean transportation, said his group is wary and wants to see details. Linhardt said he would favor the adoption of rules that would reduce nitrogen oxide emissions but doubts that the administration would comply.
“Unfortunately, this administration and this leadership of the EPA do not fill us with much confidence that this will be a real air pollution reduction measure,” Linhardt said.
Paul Billings of the American Lung Association said the idea could be encouraging based on the proposal.
“The devil’s always in the details,” Billings said. “If they were not to tighten the (nitrogen oxide) standards, it’d be a bait-and-switch.”
Nitrogen oxides can worsen lung disease, contribute to the development of asthma and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections.
Since the emissions regulations were updated in 2000, regulatory requirements have been added piecemeal, resulting in what Wheeler calls “overly complex and costly” requirements that don’t benefit the environment.
The goal of the regulatory change would be to root out inefficiencies and perhaps use onboard diagnostic computers to ensure compliance over the life of trucks, Wheeler said.
The share of pollution contributed by heavy trucks has grown, especially in urban areas and port cities with significant truck traffic, said Bill Wehrum, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.
Wehrum said the EPA doesn’t have a proposed target for setting new nitrogen oxide standards because it’s at the beginning of a rule-making process.
He said vehicles are now tested for emissions on a treadmill-like dynamometer, which might not capture all high-emissions phases of engine operation. The new standards could cut emissions during high-pollution phases, he said.