The story of a jailed diesel technician has inspired a Wtomin senator to introduced legislation takes aim at eliminating emissions control devices on diesel engines. 

Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, last week introduced The Diesel Truck Liberation Act, legislation to end what she called “the Obama and Biden EPA’s war on truck owners and mechanics.”

The bill has no co-sponsors and no companion bill in the House.

In specific, Lummis said her proposed legislation:

• Prohibits the federal government from requiring manufacturers to install or maintain emissions control devices or onboard diagnostic systems
• Removes EPA authority to enforce Clean Air Act requirements related to vehicle emissions controls
• Individuals cannot be prosecuted or sued under federal law for tampering or improving emissions equipment
• Vacates existing prison sentences for emissions-related violations and expunges criminal and civil records related to these offenses

Lummis said in a statement her bill was “inspired by Wyoming resident Troy Lake’s weaponized prosecution and imprisonment.” 

Troy Lake is a 65-year-old diesel mechanic now in a Colorado federal prison after being convicted of violating EPA clean air regulations by performing numerous so called “deletes” on the diesel engines of heavy-duty truck and other vehicles. Such procedures deactivate an engine’s particulate filter that traps soot and other contaminants in diesel exhaust, and are illegal under federal law.

Lake was convicted late last year and sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $52,500. His family is appealing to President Donald Trump for a pardon.

“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 in a statement about the bill. “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.” 

Troy’s case is explained in a detailed story by Clair McFarland in the Cowboy State Daily.