LegiStorm

Summary:

On October 25, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration jointly published the second phase of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and engines. The Phase 2 rule affects commercial long-haul tractor-trailers, vocational vehicles, and heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans. It phases in between model years 2018 and 2027. Under the rulemaking, EPA proposed a number of changes and clarifications for standards respecting “glider kits” and “glider vehicles.” A glider kit is a chassis for a tractor-trailer with a frame, front axle, interior and exterior cab, and brakes. It becomes a glider vehicle when an engine, transmission, and rear axle are added. Engines are often salvaged from earlier model year vehicles, remanufactured, and installed in the glider kit. The final manufacturer of the glider vehicle (i.e., the entity that assembles the parts) is typically a different entity than the original manufacturer of the glider kit. Glider kits and glider vehicles are produced arguably for purposes such as allowing the reuse of relatively new powertrains from damaged vehicles. The Phase 2 rule contains GHG and criteria air pollution emission standards for glider vehicles. The rule sets limits for glider vehicles similar to those for new trucks, with some exemptions. Under the rulemaking, EPA and various commentators argued that glider vehicles should be considered new because the glider market had recently become distorted. In the decade leading up to the rulemaking, sales of glider vehicles increased by an order of magnitude—from several hundred annually to several thousand or more. EPA and various commentators interpreted this change to be more than an attempt to replace damaged chassis, seeing it instead as an attempt by glider vehicle assemblers to circumvent various federal regulations. At the time, the older model year engines being used in glider vehicles were not required to meet current EPA emission standards for nitrogen oxide and particulate matter (which began in 2007 and took full effect in 2010), nor did they need to abide by some other federal regulations, including the Department of Transportation’s requirements on electronic logging devices and electronic stability control and the Internal Revenue Service’s excise taxes. With respect to pollution requirements, the Phase 2 rulemaking had estimated that NOx and PM emissions from glider vehicles using pre-2002 engines (prior to exhaust aftertreatment requirements) were 20-40 times higher than current engines. Subsequent to the Phase 2 rulemaking, EPA received petitions for reconsideration for, among other provisions, the glider requirements. On November 16, 2017, EPA (under Administrator Scott Pruitt) proposed to repeal the emission standards and other requirements for heavy-duty glider vehicles, glider engines, and glider kits, arguing that EPA lacks the authority to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. On July 26, 2018, EPA (under acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler) stated that it would “move as expeditiously as possible on a regulatory revision regarding the requirements that apply to the introduction of glider vehicles into commerce to the extent consistent with statutory requirements and due consideration of air quality impacts.” A rule has not been finalized. Some in Congress have supported the Trump Administration’s efforts to reverse the standards and provide relief to the affected glider vehicle assembler industry. However, EPA’s efforts to delay and repeal the rule have prompted criticism from other trucking industry officials, some state air agencies, environmentalists, and other lawmakers who fear that increasing production of glider vehicles could result in a fractured vehicle market and significantly higher in-use emissions of air pollutants associated with a host of adverse human health effects, including premature mortality