Release date: 7/13/2018
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today demanded the immediate withdrawal of an order the EPA issued on now-departed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s final day in office. The order effectively suspends the EPA’s 2016 Glider Rule for a year. The Glider Rule mandates that most engines installed in “gliders” – new heavy-duty truck bodies outfitted with refurbished or rebuilt pre-2010 highly polluting engines – meet the same emissions standards applicable to all newly manufactured engines. This cap is meant to protect our air from the excessive smog-forming and particulate-matter pollution emitted by outdated engines.
“I oppose the EPA’s dirty truck loophole and I’m urging the EPA to withdraw it,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “Not only will this rule make our air dirtier, it is unfair to Greensboro’s own Volvo Trucks and Mack Trucks, which play by the rules with their cleaner truck engines.”
The action taken on former Administrator Pruitt’s last day will allow the sale of trucks that produce 20 to 40 times more emissions of hazardous pollutants than new, more fuel efficient trucks. These high-polluting trucks are linked to asthma, low birth weight, infant mortality, and lung cancer. In North Carolina, and elsewhere, the rest of the trucking industry has already made substantial investments to comply with stringent emissions standards. These industries would face an uneven playing field if forced to compete against unregulated, high-polluting glider manufacturers who avoid such investments.
Joining Attorney General Stein in submitting this letter are the Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington. The California Air Resources Board and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection are also part of the coalition.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484
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