In a legal maneuver designed to bolster its defense in a federal lawsuit filed by truck manufacturer Navistar Inc., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revised its 2010 engine selective catalytic reduction guidance to remove a specific requirement limiting the hours and miles a truck can operate after its urea tank runs dry.
The revised document was sent to engine manufacturers earlier this month because some of the “prescriptive language” in the agency’s February 2009 guidance “may have lead to confusion regarding our intent that the document be used as guidance, rather than setting forth binding requirements,” Karl Simon, director of compliance and innovative strategies at EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said in a Dec. 30 letter to manufacturers.
The earlier guidance, the focal point of Navistar’s federal lawsuit filed last year, specifically required engine performance to be severely degraded after the truck travels 2,000 miles or 40 hours after the tank is urea tank is empty.
The new guidance document eliminates the suggested limits on the hours and miles trucks can operate without sufficient levels of the urea solution before the trucks begin to lose power and eventually become inoperable.
By Eric Miller
Staff Reporter
