The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a clarification letter Feb. 2 to manufacturers saying that the Clean Air Act does not prohibit independent repairs to offroad diesel equipment such as farm machinery.
A news release from EPA said manufacturers “can no longer” use the act to “justify limiting access to repair tools or software.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the release that the agency is “proud to set the record straight and protect farmers.”
“For far too long, manufacturers have wrongly used the Clean Air Act to monopolize the repair markets, hurting our farmers,” Zeldin said.
The letter from EPA explains that while the Clean Air Act prohibits the removal or disabling of emission control systems, the law has a written exception that the systems can be disabled for the purpose of a repair.
According to the news release from EPA, the letter is “a direct response” to a request for guidance from farm equipment manufacturer John Deere. The company asked EPA to confirm that temporary emission control overrides were permitted under the law.
Deere & Co. has been central to the right-to-repair issue, with the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from several farming states suing the company at the tail end of the Biden administration for “unfair practices” related to equipment repairs.
The lawsuit alleged John Deere equipment had sophisticated technology that could only be worked on by company technicians, which limited farmers’ abilities to work on their own equipment. The company said the lawsuit was based on flawed legal theories.
The release from EPA said the anti-tampering provisions in the Clean Air Act have “for years” been interpreted by equipment manufacturers as something that prevented them from making certain repair tools available to farmers, which has meant farmers spend more on repairs or opt for older equipment.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in the release that the clarification is “expected to save farmers thousands in unnecessary repairs.”
“This is another win for American farmers and ranchers by the Trump administration,” Rollins said. “By clarifying manufacturers can no longer use the Clean Air Act to justify limiting access to repair tools or software, we are reaffirming the lawful right of American farmers and equipment owners to repair their farm equipment.”
EPA said the guidance does not change the law or “weaken emission standards” but “clarifies” language in the Clean Air Act to show that “farmers and equipment owners are not required to rely on authorized dealers exclusively to fix equipment.”
In a separate action from August, Zeldin announced guidance to revise diesel exhaust fuel systems to prevent diesel farm equipment and vehicles from losing power as they run out of the fluid.
DEF, as the fluid is abbreviated, helps to reduce the presence of certain greenhouse gases as diesel fuel is burned in an engine.
President Donald Trump, in his Jan. 27 visit to Iowa, noted the DEF regulation change and said his administration has also removed certain emission requirements from cars.
“And I’m going to do that, I think, for tractors too, because we’re going to get the tractors back where you don’t have to be a Ph.D. in order to start your tractor, in order to keep the environment clean,” Trump said in his speech.
EPA is attempting to reverse a long-held finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten the environment and public health. The reversal of the endangerment finding would remove the agency’s authority to enforce Clean Air Act standards on greenhouse gas emissions. — Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch
Republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
