Pruitt’s Final Order Halts “Glider” Mandate, Intended to Require Refurbished Heavy-Duty Trucks to Meet Modern Emissions Standards
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro and 15 other Attorneys General today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over an order concerning emissions rules for older, rebuilt truck engines issued on former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s final day in office.
The order effectively suspends the EPA’s 2016 Glider Rule for a year. It pauses a mandate that requires most engines installed in “gliders” – new heavy-duty truck bodies outfitted with rebuilt pre-2010 highly polluting engines – to meet the same emissions standards applicable to all newly manufactured engines.
“On his last day in office, former Administrator Pruitt took his worst action and seriously harmed our environment,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “Gliders – new trucks with older, rebuilt engines – need to meet the same strict emissions rules as trucks with newer engines. If the EPA won’t protect Pennsylvanians from the dangers of this type of air pollution, I will.”
The action taken by former Administrator Pruitt’s on his last day will allow the sale of trucks that produce many times more emissions of hazardous pollutants than newer, more fuel-efficient trucks. Emissions from these high-polluting trucks are linked to asthma, low birth weight, infant mortality, and lung cancer.
Through a memorandum dated July 6, 2018, the EPA committed to take no action to enforce the Glider Rule’s annual manufacturing cap of 300 gliders per company. The cap is meant to protect our air from the excessive smog-forming and particulate-matter pollution emitted by outdated engines. Following this memo, Attorneys General demanded from the EPA an immediate withdrawal of its order suspending the Glider Rule. Because the EPA failed to act, the coalition, is filing today’s lawsuit and an emergency motion asking the court to promptly overturn the EPA’s order or halt the order’s effect until the court can rule on the merits of the lawsuit.
The Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club have filed a separate lawsuit against the EPA on this matter. Yesterday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of these environmental groups and granted a stay, which means that the order issued on former EPA Administrator Pruitt’s final day in office will be temporarily blocked until both parties – the environmental groups and the EPA – complete briefing on the environmental groups’ emergency motion.
The Attorneys General are filing its own lawsuit due to the irreparable harm that the states and their citizens would suffer if the EPA’s order is allowed to stand. Joining Attorney General Shapiro are the Attorneys General of Delaware, California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia, as well as the California Air Resources Board, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection.
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