One of Wyoming’s two U.S. Senators on Tuesday introduced a bill that seeks to undo emissions systems requirements on motor vehicles, free diesel “delete” mechanics from jail and expunge their civil liability judgments.
If it becomes law, the “Diesel Truck Liberation Act” would signify a victory for diesel truck drivers and other diesel fleet holders — such as fire trucks, ambulances and school buses — who have removed or tampered with the mandatory emissions systems on those vehicles.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent shift into prosecuting delete mechanics has changed the course of at least two Wyoming mechanics’ lives and businesses.
Federal authorities in Colorado this year imprisoned a 65-year-old Wyoming man, Troy Lake, who was involved in hundreds of vehicle emissions deletions over a roughly three-year span.
Lummis said in a statement Tuesday that Lake’s case inspired her bill.
"The Biden EPA threw Troy Lake and other mechanics in prison for keeping school buses, fire trucks, and ambulances running in cold, harsh climates,” said Lummis. "When Washington bureaucrats can make you a criminal without Congress ever voting on it, we have a huge problem.
"I want this overreach to end. Democrats weaponized the EPA to wage war on rural America, and we cannot let that happen again. This legislation is the first step toward justice and sanity.”
The EPA in recent years started interpreting portions of the federal Clean Air Act as a mechanism to prosecute delete mechanics criminally.
Lummis’ office cast that re-interpretation as “the Obama and Biden EPA’s war on truck owners and mechanics.”
An attorney defending Wyoming delete mechanic Levi Krech in an ongoing federal case cast the bill as "ambitious" and likely to face legal scrutiny — if it passes Congress.
"It would be great for the people in rural areas of the United States if a bill like this were to pass," said Stewart Cables of Hassan Cables Law Firm in a Wednesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily. "But I think it's a long shot."
It's an ambitious bill designed to address an issue many consider important, and it appears aimed toward putting money back into the hands of truck owners, Cables said.
But its functional problem is that it seeks to eliminate provisions of the federal Clean Air Act, he said.
An approach likelier to "withstand legal scrutiny" would be to review and amend the Clean Air Act itself, said Cables. He noted that emissions controls have been in place since the 1970s and an "outright repeal" of those in a separate section of law "is a very unlikely result."
Krech's Case
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of Wyoming is still prosecuting Krech, formerly of Gillette and now of Sturgis, for tampering with emissions systems.
Krech’s next hearing is set for Dec. 10 at the U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. Cables said Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing the charges.
"We remain hopeful that either the charges are going to be amended in their entirety, or they're going to be dismissed," said Cables.
Lummis’ advocacy in this area surfaced when Lake’s family and others started urging President Donald Trump to pardon Lake.
Though he’s been released from prison and is back in his Cheyenne-area home with a term of supervised release and an ankle monitor, Lake remains a convicted felon. If not pardoned, he’ll be banned from owning firearms, voting, and running for office.
Lummis joined the pardon push, writing a letter to the president on Lake’s behalf Sept. 30.
The intent behind tampering with emissions systems can range from increasing a truck’s performance to rescuing a small-truck business from costly emissions repairs, truck company owners told Cowboy State Daily this summer.
The Bill
Specifically the bill seeks to prohibit the federal government from requiring manufacturers to install or maintain emissions control devices or onboard diagnostic systems on vehicles.
It would remove the EPA’s authority to enforce Clean Air Act requirements relating to vehicle emissions controls. And it would bar federal authorities from prosecuting “delete” mechanics for tampering with vehicle emissions systems.
The bill also seeks to vacate existing prison sentences and expunge criminal and civil records for those offenses.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
