On July 18, 2018, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted environmental groups’ request for an administrative stay of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) “no action assurance” memorandum that provided assurance that EPA would not seek to enforce its greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards for trucks against small manufacturers of  “glider” vehicles and kits. Eight days later and after a coalition of states filed an emergency motion for summary vacatur or a stay pending judicial review, EPA withdrew the no action assurance. A glider is a “truck that utilizes a previously owned powertrain (including the engine, the transmission, and usually the rear axle) but which has new body parts.” Emission standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles published in October 2016 apply to such vehicles. In November 2017, EPA proposed to repeal the emission requirements for glider vehicles, engines, and kits. On July 6, 2018, EPA issued the no action memorandum, stating that EPA intended to exercise its enforcement discretion through July 6, 2019 or the effective date of a final rule extending the compliance date applicable to small manufacturers. In the EPA administrator’s letter withdrawing the no action memorandum, he said he had concluded that application of the current standards to the glider industry “does not represent the kind of extremely unusual circumstances that support the EPA’s exercise of enforcement discretion.”

Challenge to EPA "no action assurance" memorandum that provided assurance that EPA would not enforce greenhouse gas emission and fuel efficiency standards against small manufacturers of glider kits and vehicles.

Environmental Defense Fund v. EPA

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EPA Withdrew “No Action Assurance” for Small Manufacturers of Glider Vehicles and Kits After Environmental Groups and States Filed Lawsuits

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EPA Withdrew “No Action Assurance” for Small Manufacturers of Glider Vehicles and Kits After Environmental Groups and States Filed Lawsuits

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