Overnight Energy: EPA weighs tougher pollution rule for trucks | Zinke to visit California wildfire areas | EPA official indicted in Alabama

by Miranda Green - 11/13/18 5:36 PM ET

TRUMP EPA CONSIDERING POLLUTION LIMITS ON TRUCKS: The Trump administration is embarking on what could be its first new regulation to reduce air pollution levels.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) kicked off its Cleaner Trucks Initiative Tuesday, under which officials will consider changes to the standard for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from heavy-duty trucks.

The initiative is a sharp contrast to the EPA’s agenda under the Trump administration, which has been dominated by dozens of actions to roll back or eliminate pollution rules for power plants, cars, oil and gas drillers and more.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said Tuesday that the initiative might lead to a reduction in the allowable NOx emissions level from truck engines, but it could also lead to other deregulatory actions to ease compliance for truck makers and trucking companies.

“This rulemaking will establish updated standards to address nitrogen oxide emissions from heavy-duty trucks. We will do this in a manner that improves air quality and protects public health without jeopardizing the historic economic growth we’re achieving under President Trump,” Wheeler said at EPA headquarters, flanked by a big truck and representatives of various industries and states involved in the effort.

“Part of this initiative will be to also cut unnecessary red tape, while simplifying certification and compliance requirements for heavy-duty trucks,” he added.

“For the past three decades, additional regulatory requirements have been added to on-highway heavy-duty vehicles in a piecemeal fashion. This has resulted in some overly complex and costly requirements that do little to actually improve the environment.”

Some of the deregulatory items might include changing annual testing requirements, allowing alternative technologies for compliance and changing the testing for emissions controls.

Nitrogen oxide is one of the pollutants that can create both ozone and particulate matter, two substances that are harmful to humans’ respiratory systems. The substances can damage lung tissue, cause asthma attacks and shorten lives.

Environmental groups are responding with cautious optimism:

“If EPA’s moving forward with a measure to clean up NOx emissions from trucks, that is a good thing and stands in contrast with all the other things that this administration has done with respect to rolling back and weakening air pollution protections from a wide array of sources,” said Paul Billings, senior vice president for advocacy at the American Lung Association.

“Any plan to reduce dangerous nitrogen oxides pollution from big diesel trucks must be able to achieve protective real-world results – without the type of cheating we saw during the Volkswagen scandal,” said EDF General Counsel Vickie Patton. “Any plan also must address both nitrogen oxides and climate-destabilizing pollution, and create incentives for deploying innovative clean technologies that address the array of harmful pollutants that threaten American lives.

“Fortunately, there are made-in-America solutions at hand that can protect public health and advance climate safety while creating jobs,” Patton added. “We’ll be following EPA’s efforts closely to see if they adopt them.”