The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee this week will delve into the possibility of carving out an air pollution exemption for diesel-fueled trucks and heavy equipment in frigid temperatures.
On Wednesday, the committee will take up S. 3135, the “Cold Weather Diesel Reliability Act,” introduced last November by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and aimed at waiving existing requirements that diesel engines power down or shut off when their emission controls malfunction.
EPA-mandated controls “weren’t designed for the harsh conditions we face in Alaska and across the northern United States,” Sullivan, an EPW member who is running for a third term in this November’s elections, said in a news release announcing the bill’s introduction.
“That’s not just an inconvenience, it’s a compliance trap for the men and women who keep Alaska moving,” Sullivan said in the release, which does not offer specific examples of resulting reliability problems.
