EPA Drops Fuel-Testing Offer as Trucking Has Little Interest

he Environmental Protection Agency said the trucking industry’s lack of interest prompted the agency to cancel its plan to develop “clean corridors” in which fleets could buy ultra-low-sulfur fuel in 2005 to test 2007 diesel engines under actual operating conditions.

“Based on our discussions with the stakeholders, there is general consensus that there is no longer a need for EPA to facilitate a clean corridor stakeholder process,” Margo Oge, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, wrote in a letter to Jed Mandel, president of the Engine Manufacturers Association.

EPA had said it would assure that ULSD — diesel with no more than 15 parts per million of sulfur —would be available in several trucking lanes one year ahead of when regulations require it in 2006 so fleets could test prototypes of 2007 engines in highway conditions.

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