Coalition in Congress presses OMB to expedite rule to repeal glider emissions regs

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Two dozen members of Congress penned in late May to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney asking his OMB to hasten approval of a rule to repeal Obama-era emissions regulations placed on glider kit trucks. The rule has not yet been sent from the EPA to the OMB. 

A proposed rule was issued in November by the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind regulations placed on glider kit trucks by the 2016-finalized Phase II emissions regulations, which call for a decade-long implementation of new emissions hurdles for tractor-trailers.

For the first time, the Phase II regs brought emissions standards to the glider kit industry, requiring glider kit builders to restrict emissions of greenhouse gases and particulate matter. Glider vehicles are new truck bodies and chasses equipped with older engines and transmissions. The EPA last year sought to unwind the glider-specific Phase II regs and exempt glider kit builders, like Fitzgerald Glider Kits and Harrison’s Truck Centers, from compliance with the restrictions.

A Final Rule to rescind the glider emissions has not yet been sent to the OMB. The OMB must approve rulemakings before they’re published in the Federal Register. With the rule still unfiled with the OMB — and the OMB’s approval process awaiting — glider kit makers are left in a regulatory limbo.

A group of 24 lawmakers — three Senators and 21 members of the House — wrote Mulvaney last week asking him to skip a step in the approval process to allow the rule to be published more quickly. The lawmakers asked OMB to skip the so-called regulatory impact analysis of the rule, saying it’s not required for deregulatory actions.

The OMB has not said when it plans to approve the EPA’s rule, nor has it yet responded to the letter from lawmakers, dated May 24.

Read the full letter and its list of signatories at this link.