WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s new limits on ozone and particulate matter, meaning the impact of the agency’s emission standards on diesel engine builders is likely to be minimal.
On May 14, a three-judge panel called parts of the EPA’s 1997 smog regulations “arbitrary and capricious” and sent them back for further review. The agency’s new ozone measurement would have changed the existing ozone standard to 0.085 parts per million from the present 0.12 ppm. It also proposed a standard for measuring particulate matter smaller than 10 microns in diameter which the court also threw out. The EPA can appeal the decision but regardless of what action takes place as a result, it will likely not affect diesel engine builders until 2003.
New implementation plans are scheduled to be enacted in 2003 at which time there may be an effect on diesel engine builders.
