More than a dozen lawmakers met with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman last week, urging her to delay October’s emissions deadline, while two Indiana congressmen asked President Bush not to delay the standards.

According to published reports, Illinois Reps. Ray LaHood, John Shimkus, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, also of Illinois, were among those asking the EPA to reconsider, saying that Illinois-based Caterpillar will be hurt by hefty fines.
After the Thursday meeting, EPA spokeswoman Steffanie Bell told reporters that the agency “continues to believe the consent decree should be implemented as scheduled.” Lahood said the next step is to appeal to the White House.
Meanwhile, Indiana Reps. Mike Pence and Baron Hill wrote a letter to Bush, saying that the delay would set a damaging legal precedent and result in greater air pollution. If the administration attempts to change the deadline, they vow to built a broad bipartisan coalition to uphold it. Cummins, which is based in Indiana, is so far the only engine maker to have an engine certified by the EPA to meet the October standards.
Lawmakers that want the standards to be delayed are considering the possibility of offering a tax rebate to trucking companies that buy the new engines to help offset increased costs due to any fines imposed against Caterpillar.
The trucking industry is concerned about the October emissions deadline, with the American Trucking Associations having petitioned both the EPA and the White House, saying the new engines are far more expensive that the EPA originally estimated, and that there are concerns about fuel economy and reliability.

For more on the october '02 engines, read "The High Cost of Clean Air" in the June issue of Heavy Duty Trucking magazine.