Glider kits are trucks which are sold with key parts missing, usually the engine or transmission. Third party manufacturers then install older refurbished parts. Using older parts allows these rigs to sell at a cheaper rate and avoid some of the environmental regulations that newer trucks are held to.
24 members of congress are pushing for the proposal but are receiving push back from a coalition of trade groups, manufacturers and suppliers.
“The EPA proposal, if finalized, would have broad negative ramifications beyond allowing the sale of glider vehicles, which could undermine hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment by manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and truck purchasers in the U.S. and jeopardize states’ ability to meet their clean air goals,” said the coalition.
The coalition demands the EPA perform a regulatory impact analysis (RIA) to understand potential impacts of deregulation.
Only a few studies of Gliders have been conducted but one made public on Nov. 20, 2017 showed that gliders emit 43 times the amount of nitrous oxide as new trucks and emit particulate matter at 55 times the rate of new trucks.
Deregulation “risks major impacts on air pollution and public health,” said senior attorney of the Environmental Defense Fund, Martha Roberts. “For these major decisions, it’s required, and it’s common sense, that the administration should properly weigh and share with the public the impacts that are at stake.”
EPA officials responded in a letter saying “It is our understanding the EPA does not need to conduct a RIA for deregulatory issues and taking such a step would delay the regulatory action unnecessarily.” Performing an RIA “may adversely impact the U.S. economy by $1 billion and jeopardize 22,000 jobs.”
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