EPA diesel rollback could save farmers billions: Clean-air advocates worry about risks

New regulatory guidance for diesel engines could save U.S. industries billions of dollars for farmers and truckers, but clean-air advocates say it could pose a significant risk to public health. 

Lee Zeldin, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was in Rocky Mount Monday to tout his agency’s decision last week to remove a requirement for exhaust fluid sensors on diesel equipment. 

The move comes in response to concerns raised by farmers, truckers, motor coach operators and other diesel equipment operators over diesel exhaust sensor failures that can eat into productivity, the EPA says. 

The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates that the new guidance will save farmers and truckers about $13.79 billion in repair costs and lost productivity.

“It’s about being responsive to the concerns of North Carolina families and farmers who have reached out to EPA,” Zeldin told reporters at the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce. 

Diesel exhaust fluid is a substance used in diesel engines to reduce air pollution. DEF sensors help ensure diesel vehicles and equipment operate in compliance with clean-air regulations. 

When DEF runs out or a sensor fails, it can cause a vehicle to reduce speed or become inoperable. That can cause disruptions in logistics, agriculture, and construction, regulators say. But DEF sensors are frequently faulty, according to the EPA. “It has caused needless frustration, operational delays, and real economic hardship for countless farmers, truckers, and equipment operators,” the agency said in a news release last week. 

Industry groups have praised the move. 

The American Trucking Associations called it a pragmatic solution. 

“These systems have too often sidelined otherwise safe, compliant trucks due to faulty or unreliable DEF quality sensors, an issue that was compounded by widespread parts shortages in recent years,” Patrick Kelly, the associations’ vice president of energy and environmental affairs, said in a statement. “When a bad sensor can trigger a full inducement, the result is unnecessary downtime, unnecessary towing costs, strained supply chains, and higher costs across the board.”

Mar Zepeda Salazar, legislative director at the Climate Justice Alliance, says the change could harm public health and the environment. 

“By revoking this, the administration continues to show that their priorities are grounded in sacrificing our health, endangering communities and commodifying the Earth for more corporate extraction and profits, at the expense of our future,” she said in a statement. 

Other environmental-protection groups have also questioned the EPA’s move, calling on the agency to release data it collected to arrive at its decision to relax the regulations. “Public release of this information would help stakeholders understand the breadth and scope of DEF issues,” John. D. Walke, the federal clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in testimony this month to a U.S. Senate committee examining the issue. 

Walke says Zedlin’s policies could be harmful to public health. 

“The EPA under this administration, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, are executing a historically reckless, persistent, and harmful campaign to roll back clean air safeguards, increase dangerous air pollution, worsen air quality and public health, flout the reality of climate change, eliminate air pollution monitoring, and diminish enforcement of the Clean Air Act,” Walke said in the testimony. “These are the harmful actions that Congress should be investigating, condemning, countering and reversing.”

Focus on farmers, Rocky Mount

While the new policy is expected to affect a wide variety of industries, the Trump administration has focused on its impact on farmers, who have been grappling with rising costs associated with tariffs and the conflict in Iran. 

Trade wars resulting from tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have hit North Carolina farmers particularly hard, as nations such as China — a major destination for North Carolina pork and tobacco — have retaliated. The John Locke Foundation estimated in a recent report that North Carolina’s economy could lose about $1.9 billion — roughly 2% of the gross state

Product — from retaliation over trade policies. Meanwhile, the Iran conflict is leading to rising costs of fuel and fertilizer. 

The new DEF regulations would benefit from an estimated $4.4 billion in savings from repairs and lost productivity, the U.S. Small Business Administration estimates. 

Audrey Sharon, the wife of a third-generation farmer in Rocky Mount, said the policy change could reduce operating costs significantly. 

“It's very expensive for us to operate trucks,” Sharon said. “We're talking about $5,000 to $8,000 to get things fixed, every time there's a direct issue.”

Members of the Trump administration have used Rocky Mount as a backdrop to promote policies in recent weeks. The area will be a focal point in upcoming elections. 

The city sits in the state’s 1st Congressional District — one of the state’s most heavily agricultural districts — which was recently redrawn to more strongly favor a Republican in the November elections. Republican candidate Laurie Buckhout is looking to unseat Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Don Davis, who beat Buckhout in 2024. 

It’s also 12 miles from Nashville, North Carolina, the hometown of Democrat Roy Cooper, a former two-term governor who is vying to fill the seat of outgoing U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican. Cooper, who has campaigned on a promise to fight against tariffs, is facing Republican Michael Whatley, an ally of President Donald Trump, in that race. 

Whatley has supported Trump’s tariff plans in the past. He previously said Trump’s approach “will create jobs, raise wages, expand opportunity, and make our state affordable again.”

During a recent Republican debate ahead of the March 3 primary, three of the four GOP congressional candidates acknowledged the financial pain local farmers are feeling. But all of them supported keeping the tariffs in place, saying they trusted Trump’s vision.“It's time that we level the playing field,” Buckhout said during the debate. “And I know that President Trump is doing that, and it takes some time.”

Davis last month told WRAL News that he sees tariffs as useful in certain cases but that Trump’s approach has gone too far. “Tariffs in select cases can be vital for tackling unfair trade practices,” Davis said. “However, the current wide-reaching and unpredictable approach has hurt farmers and manufacturers in eastern North Carolina.”