"The Environmental Protection Agency reversed course late Thursday and announced it would enforce stricter pollution controls on freight trucks known as “gliders,” which emit dozens of times more soot and contaminants compared to those with new diesel engines.

In a three-page memo to his deputies, acting administrator Andrew Wheeler said he would withdraw the “no action assurance” the agency had given the manufacturers of glider trucks on the last day that his predecessor, Scott Pruitt, headed the EPA. That letter assured firms that they would not have to limit their annual production to 300 vehicles through the end of 2019.

The EPA initially proposed a rule last November to repeal tighter emissions standards for glider trucks, which had been set to take effect in January. An Obama-era regulation aimed at controlling soot and other pollutants, as well as greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, the rule had the support of public-health advocates and some major trucking groups and engine manufacturers."

Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis report for the Washington Post July 26, 2018. [2]