Washington-Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have agreed, at the prodding of Navistar, to take a look at claims that diesel trucks with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) can “cheat” on emissions control requirements by continuing to drive without diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). According to Navistar, a critic of SCR and DEF has finalized an agreement with EPA to dismiss three lawsuits on the condition that EPA re-examine whether trucks with this latest emissions-control technology are able to cheat. In the suits, in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Navistar claimed EPA had failed to consider that SCR might not reduce tailpipe emissions as intended. In the first step of the process, at Navistar’s urging, EPA, along with CARB, held a public workshop in July to address issues raised by Navistar. CARB has since announced it is considering tightening up or shortening the time or mileage that a vehicle would be allowed to operate when out of DEF. At the workshop Navistar presented a third-party study that concluded new commercial vehicles equipped with SCR continue to operate effectively when urea is not present. At such times, according to Navistar, the vehicles throw off levels of NOx as much as 10 times higher than when urea is present. Spokeswoman Karen Caesar said in the press that CARB is currently “taking into consideration the comments we received at the workshop and afterwards as we move forward,” she said. “However, it’s still unclear at this time whether we will actually put out new guidelines for the next model year.”
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