No Delay To 2002 Diesel Standards?

Diesel Progress North American Edition, August, 2001 by Mike Osenga

June 5th letter says no delay in implementing 10/2002 on-highway diesel standards; yet doubts remain

In a June 5, 2001 letter to the five diesel engine manufacturers involved in the landmark 1998 consent decree, the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) said it will, at this time, not amend the decree and will go forward with the October 2002 "pull-ahead" diesel exhaust requirements.

The letter requires that as of October 2002, four of the five remaining signers of the decree, Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, and Volvo must begin producing on-highway diesels that meet the 2.5 g/bhp-hr standards for [NO.sub.x] and non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs). International Truck & Engine is not included in this part of the settlement as its engines are considered light- and medium--duty and do not fall under this ruling.

Thus it would seem the emissions path for heavier on-highway diesels is now clear and set in legal stone. Maybe.

There is speculation throughout the industry that one, or possibly more of the consent decree signers are still lobbying for a delay in implementing the October 2002 standards. So with this letter, while the DOJ and the EPA seem very clear in saying that the "pull-ahead standards" will be implemented as set forth in the decree, many in the industry are betting this is not the final answer.

All this started on October 22, 1998 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that seven diesel engine manufacturers -- Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, Mack, Mack's parent Renault Vehicules Industriels (RVI), Navistar/International, and Volvo Truck Corp. had violated the Clean Air Act by installing emissions control "defeat devices" on their diesel engines.

Since that time, Volvo has purchased RVI, thus the seven original signers are now five. Subsequently Volvo Truck Corp., Renault VI and Mack Trucks Inc. have formed a joint business area called Volvo Global Trucks.

As part of that negotiated agreement, the companies agreed to meet the 2004 on-highway emissions standards in October 2002, thus the "pull-ahead" designation.

In its letter to the diesel manufacturers, John C. Cruden, acting assistant attorney general, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Environmental Enforcement Section, Dept. of Justice, and Sylvia K. Lowrance, acting assistant administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said in part:

"As you know, the Consent Decrees were entered by the Court on July 1, 1999. The pull-ahead requirements are among the core provisions of the Consent Decrees with all the settling engine manufacturers except International Truck and Engine. They were intended to redress excess emissions from alleged defeat device-equipped engines sold prior to October 1998 and (emphasis in original) engines sold after October 1998 under the compliance schedule incorporated in the Consent Decrees (which allowed the continued use of certain alleged defeat strategies). Each manufacturer agreed to the schedule without the benefit of a 'technological infeasibility out' that would excuse or delay the compliance obligation."

The letter also noted that a "status conference" was held, at the request of the government in December 2000, "in which the engine manufacturers had the opportunity to advise the Court of any problems they saw in meeting the scheduled deadline. No manufacturers indicated any need for the Court's intervention."

If an engine manufacturer cannot meet the pull-ahead requirements, the consent decree has provisions for averaging, banking and trading of emissions credits, phase-in provisions and nonconformance penalties (NCPs) that the Cruden/ Lowrance letter said resulted from "extensive negotiations." The level of the penalties is still to be determined between now and October 2002, and may be according to industry speculation, one of the things being negotiated behind the scenes.

The letter concluded that, "based on all the information available to us," it could not agree to an amendment regarding the pull-ahead requirements. Thus, October 2002 seems to be the date.

Both Cummins and Detroit Diesel were quick to react to the June 5th letter. On June 6th, Cummins issued a press release that said it would meet the 2.5 g/bhp-h standard by October 2002. Cummins added, "Over the past few months, several of the other consent decree signers had urged EPA and the DOJ to consider amending the decrees to provide a delay in producing lower emissions engines."

Chairman Tim Solso said that Cummins had invested "considerable resources to meet our commitments" and was "confident that our development of emissions control technologies, coupled with our OEM partnerships, will allow us to provide customers with a reliable, durable product..."

A day later, Detroit Diesel Corp. (DDC) weighed in with a similar statement, saying that it "has always had plans to introduce engines with new emissions technologies by October 2002." The release added that Detroit Diesel had begun installation of new manufacturing operations, at a cost in excess of $136 million.