New Report Finds Trump EPA Failed to Follow the Law, Consider Children’s Health on Proposed Loophole for Super-Polluting Glider Trucks

(Washington, D.C. – December 5, 2019) A new report from EPA’s Inspector General found that former agency administrator Scott Pruitt failed to follow legal and public health safeguards when he tried to create a loophole for super-polluting glider trucks.

The long-awaited report was released today.

“The Trump EPA flagrantly and knowingly violated the law as it tried to ram through a loophole to allow more super-polluting “glider” freight trucks onto America’s roads. Their attempts to evade vital clean air protections are a serious threat to public health,” said EDF senior attorney Martha Roberts.

“Meanwhile the Trump White House is still stonewalling efforts to shed light on this problem. They are refusing to release documents about how they short-circuited required analyses – studies that would show the tremendous health harms from this proposed loophole, including harms to children. That evasion is deeply troubling,” Roberts added. “The White House should immediately release those records to the American public.”

Glider trucks are heavy-duty freight trucks that are assembled by putting old, dirty diesel engines into a new freight truck body. EPA testing found they can emit lethal particulate pollution at up to 450 times the amount from modern, Clean Air Act-compliant engines.

Under America’s Clean Truck Standards, engines used in glider trucks must meet modern pollution standards. In 2017, Pruitt tried to repeal pollution standards for glider trucks after a meeting with manufacturer Fitzgerald Glider Kits – which had hosted an event for then-candidate Donald Trump early in his presidential campaign.

Today’s report found that Pruitt tried to fast-track the proposal without following legal requirements and without doing necessary analyses, including a required analysis of potential impact on children’s health.