Attorney General Janet T. Mills and 13 other state officials object to EPA's plan to not enforce a key Clean Air Act rule

July 16, 2018

AUGUSTA – Attorney General Janet Mills has joined 13 states in opposing the US Environmental Agency’s suspension of the “Glider Rule” that would keep super-polluting heavy-duty diesel trucks off America’s roads. The state officials have written to the EPA to warn that the “no action” assurance it has given the industry would amount to an unlawful, de facto repeal of the rule without proper due process.

“The EPA has an obligation to enforce the laws on the books,” said attorney General Mills. “The EPA cannot simply decide to abdicate its responsibility to protect and promote the public health and other core functions of the agency with no review and no public process. If the agency continues to ignore the law in such blatant fashion, there will be no option but to go to court.”

The Glider Rule, adopted in 2016, is aimed at the practice of taking older higher polluting diesel engines and putting them in a new chassis. The rule was adopted in order to close a loophole that allowed trucks to avoid emissions standards applied to newer vehicles and to evade the intent of the Clean Air Act. When adopting the Glider Rule the EPA determined that allowing the vehicles to continue in service would result in hundreds of premature deaths and the release of a hundred thousand tons of NOx and diesel particulate matter pollution. In addition, the EPA estimated that the health impacts for each glider sold would be, on average, between $300,000 to $1,100,000.

The letter sent by Attorney General Mills and the other states can be read here:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4599171-2018-7-13-California-Leads-Coalition-Request-to.html

Maine joins other states in seeking EPA assurance that it will enforce the “Glider Rule” that was aimed at keeping super-polluting, heavy duty diesel trucks off the road.