May 10, 2010 9:35 AM

Navistar International Corporation has reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in which EPA promised to hold a public workshop or hearing to address issues Navistar raised in its federal court appeal of EPA’s certification policies for SCR-equipped diesel-powered trucks.

Navistar had asked the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC to void those polices because they had been adopted by the EPA without the public process required by law, but instead following input only from the SCR engine makers. In its appeal, Navistar charged that EPA is using those policies to allow SCR-equipped diesel powered trucks to operate for extended periods without any control of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and is certifying SCR engines as meeting NOx emission requirements when they do not.

The agreement provides that EPA will “engage in a public process to re-examine 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 also has promised to “ensure, among other things, that SCR-equipped heavy-duty diesel engines are designed to properly control emissions as required under applicable regulations.”

The agreement must be published by EPA in the Federal Register for comment before it can become final.

“We are pleased with this agreement and look forward to participating in the public process,” said Jack Allen, president of Navistar’s North American Truck Group. “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.”

In March, Navistar’s MaxxForce DT mid-range diesel engines and MaxxForce 13 big-bore diesel engines were certified by the EPA for model year 2010.

The original guidance from the EPA in February 2009, required engine performance to be degraded after a truck travelled a certain distance with an empty diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tank.

As part of its lawsuit against the EPA, Navistar said that provision in the 2010 engine rules was essentially a “licence to pollute” and “pollution for convenience.”

Citing the petition for review filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals, the EPA decided to rewrite the provision and issued a letter to engine manufacturers on Dec. 30, 2009.

“Because some prescriptive language in CISD-09-04 may have led to confusion regarding our intent that the document be used as guidance, rather than setting forth binding requirements, I believe it is appropriate to provide a new document providing revised guidance regarding certification of heavy-duty diesel engines using SCR,” wrote Karl Simon, director of compliance and innovative strategies with the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

In the new guidance, any mention of miles or hours driven on an empty DEF tank is removed. Instead the EPA only suggests that it would likely take a 25 percent reduction in torque for a driver to notice decreased operation.

However, it will be up to the manufacturer to determine how long after a DEF tank runs dry that engine performance begins to decline:

“In determining strategies that are sufficiently onerous to cause the driver to replenish the DEF tank and minimize any adverse emission impact, manufacturers can consider strategies that begin to degrade performance prior to the DEF tank being empty and that progressively become more onerous as the DEF tank becomes empty.”

About Pynergy Petroleum Company

Pynergy Petroleum Company was founded in August 1999 when it acquired three Conoco Branded retail locations in the Denver, CO area.  Since then, Pynergy has been devoted to providing high quality fuels, lubricants, diesel exhaust fluid, equipment and service to the automotive, heavy duty and industrial markets.  Please visit us at www.pynergypetroleum.com