Release date:
1/5/2018
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today stood in strong opposition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to allow more high polluting trucks on the roads by repealing protections on “glider trucks.” In 2016, the EPA required that gliders – new heavy duty truck bodies without engines or drive trains – be installed with clean engines that meet present-day emission standards. Now, the EPA wants to repeal its own 2016 rule, opening a loophole that will exempt these new trucks installed with older, dirtier engines. “Protecting the air we breathe means keeping our families healthier and happier,” said Attorney General Stein. “That is why I oppose the EPA’s dirty truck loophole. It will not only make our air dirtier, it also will be unfair to the truck manufacturers, like Volvo Trucks and Mack Trucks in Greensboro, and trucking companies that play by the rules and use up-to-date, cleaner truck engines.”
Gliders that do not comply with the 2016 Glider Rule produce 20 to 40 times more emissions of hazardous pollutants that are linked to asthma, low birth weight, infant mortality, and lung cancer. The EPA has estimated that opening the loophole for a single year of unregulated “glider truck” production could result in up to 1,600 premature deaths, 415,000 tons of additional nitrogen oxide emissions, and 6,800 tons of additional particulate matter emissions.
In North Carolina and elsewhere, the rest of the trucking industry has already made substantial investments to comply with stringent emissions standards. Repeal of the 2016 rule could put them at a competitive disadvantage by having to compete against unregulated glider manufacturers who avoid such investments.
Joining Attorney General Stein in filing today’s comments were the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484
###