House adds amendment to bill to keep glider kits exempt from emissions regs

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The U.S. House this week added an amendment to a government funding bill that would keep glider kits exempt from the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently unveiled Phase 2 greenhouse gas emissions standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) represents the 6^th District of Tennessee, which includes the city of Byrdstown, where Fitzgerald Glider Kits is located. Fitzgerald is the largest truck glider kit manufacturer in the country.

Black addressed the House on July 8, introducing the amendment.

“I recently toured a business in my district that manufactures these kits,” she said. “For those who don’t know, a glider kit is a group of truck parts that can include a brand new frame, cab, or axles, but does not include an engine or transmission. Since a glider kit is less expensive than buying a new truck, and can extend the working life of a truck, businesses and drivers with a damaged or older vehicle may choose to purchase one of these kits instead of buying a completely new vehicle. Unfortunately, the EPA is proposing to apply the new Phase 2 standards to glider kits, even though gliders are not really new vehicles.”

The amendment was to an appropriations bill that funds the Department of Interior, Environment and related agencies in the 2016 fiscal year.

Black’s amendment passed the House by voice vote and was added to the appropriations bill.

The amendment states the EPA cannot use any funds made available in the appropriations bill to finalize, implement, administer or enforce Phase 2 of the regulations to glider kits and glider vehicles.

The bill, however, still has not passed the House.

The Senate has passed a 2016 Department of Interior appropriations bill, but it did not include the amendment. The House and Senate will have to find common ground between the two versions before it’s sent to the president’s desk for a signature.

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