Trump's pro-business Swamp attack on your health: Scott Pruitt gave “super polluting” trucks a gift on his last day at the EPA
Jul 8, 2018 13:35:43 #
opy and paste from https://www.vox.com/2018/7/8/17544380/scott-pruitt-epa-truck-pollution-glider-kit-loophole
Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt managed to fire a Parthian shot on his final day in office when he cemented a massive loophole for some of the dirtiest, most polluting trucks on the road, allowing manufacturers to build even more them.
It was Pruitt’s final knock to clean air after President Trump asked him resign Thursday as months of mounting scandals came to a head. “Pruitt didn’t want to leave his post and was described as being devastated that he had to resign ... ,” according to Jennifer Dlouhy and Jennifer Jacobs at Bloomberg. Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist for industries including coal, will take over EPA as acting director on Monday.
Pruitt’s last policy decision benefits a small slice of truck manufacturers, including one that hosted a campaign event for Donald Trump.
The loophole, which the Obama administration took steps to close, involves glider kits. These are brand new trucks, but without an engine or t***smission (hence why they “glide”). This category of truck was created so manufacturers could salvage parts from older trucks, or parts from those damaged in accidents.
However, older engines adhere to older pollution standards. They often don’t use technologies like selective catalytic reduction, a method to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions that cause smog and acid rain. These pollution control systems mandated on new trucks add cost, complexity, and can hamper fuel economy. So some truck buyers aren’t fans.
A cottage industry quickly sprang up to take advantage of this loophole and to pitch the virtues of gliders to buyers. “This process creates a reliable, more fuel efficient truck that requires less maintenance, yields less downtime and has the safety features and amenities owners have come to expect in trucks on the road today,” according to Fitzgerald Glider Kits, that largest glider truck manufacturer in the United States.
Production of glider trucks surged from 1,000 in 2010 to 10,000 in 2015, and is on track to increase further.
However, the EPA’s tests showed that even shiny new glider trucks can spew upward of 55 times the amount of pollution of trucks that use the current generation of pollution controls. Though they make up a tiny fraction of the overall trucking fleet, the EPA estimated that if current trends hold, gliders would account for half of all nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks by 2030. The American Lung Association described the trucks as “super polluting.”
So under Obama, the EPA moved to throttle the loophole and limit the number of glider trucks produced each year to 300. As Camille von Kaenel at E&E News observed:
The Obama EPA estimated that the rule’s requirement that gliders use modern engines in 2018 alone would have prevented between 350 and 1,600 premature deaths over the lifetime of the vehicles.
But left unchecked, refurbished trucks would emit more per year than all vehicles affected by the Volkswagen AG emissions-c***ting scandal would have spewed by 2025, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists.
The cap was supposed to take effect this year.
“Our goose was cooked until President Trump and Pruitt came to town,” wrote Tommy Fitzgerald Sr., CEO of Fitzgerald Glider Kits, in the Daily Caller. Trump met with Fitzgerald when campaigning for president in 2016. Pruitt then met with Fitzgerald after taking office.
Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt managed to fire a Parthian shot on his final day in office when he cemented a massive loophole for some of the dirtiest, most polluting trucks on the road, allowing manufacturers to build even more them.
It was Pruitt’s final knock to clean air after President Trump asked him resign Thursday as months of mounting scandals came to a head. “Pruitt didn’t want to leave his post and was described as being devastated that he had to resign ... ,” according to Jennifer Dlouhy and Jennifer Jacobs at Bloomberg. Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist for industries including coal, will take over EPA as acting director on Monday.
Pruitt’s last policy decision benefits a small slice of truck manufacturers, including one that hosted a campaign event for Donald Trump.
The loophole, which the Obama administration took steps to close, involves glider kits. These are brand new trucks, but without an engine or t***smission (hence why they “glide”). This category of truck was created so manufacturers could salvage parts from older trucks, or parts from those damaged in accidents.
However, older engines adhere to older pollution standards. They often don’t use technologies like selective catalytic reduction, a method to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions that cause smog and acid rain. These pollution control systems mandated on new trucks add cost, complexity, and can hamper fuel economy. So some truck buyers aren’t fans.
A cottage industry quickly sprang up to take advantage of this loophole and to pitch the virtues of gliders to buyers. “This process creates a reliable, more fuel efficient truck that requires less maintenance, yields less downtime and has the safety features and amenities owners have come to expect in trucks on the road today,” according to Fitzgerald Glider Kits, that largest glider truck manufacturer in the United States.
Production of glider trucks surged from 1,000 in 2010 to 10,000 in 2015, and is on track to increase further.
However, the EPA’s tests showed that even shiny new glider trucks can spew upward of 55 times the amount of pollution of trucks that use the current generation of pollution controls. Though they make up a tiny fraction of the overall trucking fleet, the EPA estimated that if current trends hold, gliders would account for half of all nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks by 2030. The American Lung Association described the trucks as “super polluting.”
So under Obama, the EPA moved to throttle the loophole and limit the number of glider trucks produced each year to 300. As Camille von Kaenel at E&E News observed:
The Obama EPA estimated that the rule’s requirement that gliders use modern engines in 2018 alone would have prevented between 350 and 1,600 premature deaths over the lifetime of the vehicles.
But left unchecked, refurbished trucks would emit more per year than all vehicles affected by the Volkswagen AG emissions-c***ting scandal would have spewed by 2025, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists.
The cap was supposed to take effect this year.
“Our goose was cooked until President Trump and Pruitt came to town,” wrote Tommy Fitzgerald Sr., CEO of Fitzgerald Glider Kits, in the Daily Caller. Trump met with Fitzgerald when campaigning for president in 2016. Pruitt then met with Fitzgerald after taking office.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.