Barry Loudermilk: “Under the Clean Water Act, Congress gave the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate any air pollutant…”

“Under the Clean Water Act, Congress gave the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate any air pollutant from any class or classes of new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines which may be reasonably anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. To avoid any ambiguity, Congress further defined the term ``motor vehicle'' as a ``self-propelled vehicle designed for transporting persons or property on a street or highway.'' Until recently, regulators understood, as any reasonable person would, that the term ``self-propelled vehicle'' only applies to vehicles that can move on a roadway under their own power, such as cars, pickup trucks, semi trucks, SUVs, or vans. Never was a trailer, whether a utility trailer pulled by a pickup truck, a boat trailer pulled by a car, or a cargo trailer pulled by a semi considered a self- propelled vehicle, and, therefore, these were never under the regulatory authority of the EPA. However, in 2016, without any authority of Congress, the EPA extended its regulatory authority and included cargo trailers in the rules for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards for on-road, heavy-duty vehicles and engines. This rule will require cargo trailers to add components that, in some cases, have shown to improve aerodynamics, resulting in some improvement in fuel efficiency.…”