Navistar Drops Lawsuit against EPA

Heavy-truck maker Navistar resolved a dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency over how it certified certain heavy-truck engines as 2010 compliant.

The truck maker dropped a lawsuit it filed against EPA in return for the promise of a public hearing on how EPA certifies engines manufactured by Navistar competitors.

The company charged the EPA was certifying engines using Selective Catalytic Reduction technology to reduce emissions as compliant when they were not. Navistar doesn’t use SCR technology in its engines, but all its U.S. competitors do.

SCR reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by filtering diesel exhaust through a urea solution. Navistar claimed the EPA certification procedures allowed trucks equipped with SCR to run without adequate levels of that solution, removing the check on NOx emissions.

Navistar recirculates exhaust through its engines to remove NOx emissions. Its MaxxForce DT mid-range diesel engines and MaxxForce 13 big bore diesel engines were certified as complying with EPA’s 2010 emissions standards in March.

“We believe that with full and open public participation, EPA will develop a new approach that will result in equal enforcement of the 2010 NOx requirements for all engine makers,” said Jack Allen, president of Navistar’s North American Truck Group.

Under the agreement, EPA will “engage in a public process to reexamine its policies, for future 2011 and later model year engines” during which it will “provide a thorough review of EPA's policies regarding operation of SCR-equipped engines.”

EPA will “ensure, among other things, that SCR equipped heavy duty diesel engines are designed to properly control emissions as required under applicable regulations.”

Navistar filed its lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The May 4 settlement will be published in the Federal Register.

-- Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.