WASHINGTON — New legislation introduced in the Senate would vacate sentences for mechanics convicted of tampering with heavy-duty truck diesel equipment.
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The Diesel Truck Liberation Act, introduced by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., would also prohibit the federal government from requiring manufacturers to install or maintain emissions control devices or onboard diagnostic systems while removing the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to enforce pollution laws related to vehicle emissions controls.
Lummis said in a press statement that the bill was inspired by Wyoming resident Troy Lake, a diesel mechanic who was sentenced last December to a year in prison for disabling emission control systems on hundreds of heavy-duty trucks across the country.
If the bill is enacted into law, Lake would be released from prison and his conviction would be expunged.
“The Biden EPA threw Troy Lake and other mechanics in prison for keeping school buses, fire trucks, and ambulances running in cold, harsh climates,” Lummis said.
“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 legislation has four primary goals:
- Prohibit the federal government from requiring manufacturers to install or maintain emissions control devices or onboard diagnostic systems.
- Remove EPA authority to enforce Clean Air Act requirements related to vehicle emissions controls.
- Remove the ability under federal law to prosecute or sue individuals for tampering or improving emissions equipment.
- Vacate existing prison sentences for emissions-related violations and expunges criminal and civil records related to these offenses.
Jonathan Achtemeier, who was sentenced earlier this year to four months in prison and a $25,000 fine for reconfiguring heavy-duty diesel truck engines which allowed company drivers to bypass federal pollution-control regulations, would also see his conviction vacated if the legislation were enacted.
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