Industry News

Navistar Airs Concerns To Regulators

July 21, 2010

Navistar and two environmental groups, the Coalition for Clean Air and Environment Now, have called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to eliminate regulatory loopholes that can result in excessive NOx emissions from vehicles using selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems. The truck and engine manufacturer presented its position at a joint EPA-CARB public workshop in California.

The workshop was the fulfillment of agreements Navistar made with EPA and CARB in exchange for dropping lawsuits against the two agencies earlier this year. In separate legal actions, Navistar alleged that both regulatory bodies had bypassed legally required public processes in establishing certification policies for SCR-equipped trucks.

At the event, Navistar’s cited the results of testing it commissioned from EnSIGHT, an independent environmental consulting firm, using two long-haul vehicles and one heavy-duty pickup, all of which use SCR technology. Navistar said that EnSight’s research showed that when liquid urea was not present – i.e., the urea tank was low, empty or filled with water - there was little or no effect on vehicle operations. This means, Navistar said, that vehicles using SCR could operate for long periods of time with no NOx emissions control.

In the testing, Navistar said one vehicle accumulated more than 13,000 miles with its SCR NOx emission controls inoperative. At such times, Navistar said, the vehicles can produce NOx emissions as much as 10 times higher than when urea is present and the system is operating normally.

“Truck owners are paying a substantial price to comply with 2010 NOx requirements,” said Jack Allen, president of Navistar’s North American truck group. “They, and the public, deserve to know that the new equipment they are purchasing actually works as promised to curb pollution. It’s obvious, however, that these trucks can operate effectively without liquid urea and that under these and other conditions, SCR NOx emission control is turned off. We’re calling on the EPA and CARB to assure that all vehicles, not just ours, work when they are supposed to be working.”