EPW Committee Holds Hearing On Sullivan’s Cold Weather Diesel Reliability Act

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today welcomed a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing to examine S. 3135, the Cold Weather Diesel Reliability Act, legislation introduced by Senators Sullivan and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). The hearing featured testimony from Ryan Anderson, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (Alaska DOT), along with other expert witnesses. Commissioner Anderson detailed how current federal diesel regulations are creating serious, potentially life-threatening operational challenges in cold-weather states and explained why Sen. Sullivan's legislation is needed to protect Americans who rely on diesel-powered vehicles and equipment-including emergency vehicles, commercial trucks, and critical infrastructure machinery-during extreme winter conditions.

Under current one-size-fits-all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, diesel trucks and heavy equipment are required to use emissions systems that can trigger engine shutdowns if the system detects a fault. In cold weather, these emissions components-including but not limited to diesel exhaust fluid (DEF)-often struggle to reach or maintain proper operating temperatures, causing the system to register faults even when the engine itself is running normally. The Cold Weather Diesel Reliability Act would direct the EPA to update its regulations to account for how diesel engines actually operate in cold-weather states, like Alaska, to prevent the automatic shutdowns caused by cold-related emissions faults, and to provide year-round exemptions from DEF system requirements for vehicles and equipment that operate primarily in cold weather climates.

In the hearing, Sen. Sullivan noted that his legislation was the result of hearing from Alaskans who deal with these problems, including from one trucking company about one of its trucks operating on the Dalton Highway-a 400 mile stretch of road leading to Prudhoe Bay, with only one gas station. It was 45 degrees below zero and the trucker was driving through a blizzard when it suddenly lost power.

"The driver went from highway speed to crawling along at about five miles per hour in the middle of a blizzard while hauling a heavy load through mountain terrain," said Senator Sullivan. "There's no cell service along most of the Dalton Highway. He had to call dispatch on a satellite phone while idling in brutal wind chills just to keep the truck from freezing solid. Hours later, another driver finally reached him and helped him out. He survived-but the load had to be dropped, and the company paid about $15,000 just to tow the truck back to Fairbanks."

Stories like this, he noted, are not unusual in Alaska. Commissioner Anderson testified that this issue has become widespread in Alaska, noting that up to 80 percent of diesel engine maintenance issues affecting the state's equipment fleet over the past two years have been related to DEF system failures in cold weather.

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"Madam Chair, thank you for holding this hearing on my legislation, which would fix an issue that is important not just to me, but to the Alaskans I represent," said Senator Sullivan. "This is a problem my constituents brought directly to my office, another EPA mandate that doesn't work in the real world and, in a state like Alaska, can literally be a matter of life and death. Let me explain why.

First, how did we get here? Obama-era EPA emissions rules required nearly all new diesel engines to install emissions-control systems that use diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF. To enforce compliance, EPA also required manufacturers to program automatic "derate" safeguards that limit engine power or even shut the vehicle down if the system detects a problem, such as low DEF levels or a malfunction in the emissions equipment. But as often happens, the people hit with these one-size-fits-all regulations aren't the lawyers in Washington, D.C. who wrote them. It's the truck drivers, mechanics, and equipment operators out on remote highways, doing the hard work that keeps our communities supplied and our economy moving.

Why do I say that? DEF freezes at just 12 degrees. Modern trucks have heaters to thaw them once the engine starts, and in normal winter conditions, those heaters do their job. But in places like Alaska, temperatures don't just dip below freezing for a few hours; they can stay well below negative 20 for weeks at a time. When that happens, the emissions system can stay too cold to reach "ready" status. The extreme cold can affect the sensors, pumps, and heaters that these emission systems depend on. The sensors think something is wrong, even when the engine itself is running just fine. The truck's computer reads that as a fault and starts reducing power. When that happens in a city, it's an inconvenience. But when it happens on a remote highway in Alaska, where there's no cell service and the nearest help might be hundreds of miles away, it becomes a serious safety risk.

Don't just take my word for it. One of the calls my office received that led directly to this legislation came from a trucking company operating on the Dalton Highway, the only road to Alaska's North Slope. One of their drivers was hauling north toward Prudhoe Bay during a blizzard. Temperatures were negative 45 degrees, with wind gusts over 60 miles per hour. The truck was practically brand new and properly winterized. Near Atigun Pass, the truck suddenly lost power when the DEF crystallized, and the sensors registered a fault. The driver went from highway speed to crawling along at about five miles per hour in the middle of a blizzard while hauling a heavy load through mountain terrain. There's no cell service along most of the Dalton Highway. He had to call dispatch on a satellite phone while idling in brutal wind chills just to keep the truck from freezing solid. Hours later, another driver finally reached him and helped him out. He survived-but the load had to be dropped, and the company paid about $15,000 just to tow the truck back to Fairbanks.

Madam Chair, stories like this are not unusual in Alaska. I hear them all the time from truckers, equipment operators, and small businesses that rely on diesel equipment to do their jobs. I'd like to submit additional testimonials from my constituents for the record. These are the men and women who keep America moving. They haul the food, the fuel, and the supplies that keep communities running. And what they're telling us is simple: the rules coming out of Washington don't reflect the reality they face on the ground.

In Alaska, these failures can leave someone stranded in fifty-below weather, hours away from help. That is a compliance trap, and it is dangerous. My bill brings some common sense into the system. It directs EPA to update its regulations to account for extreme cold and allows manufacturers to temporarily suspend automatic derate or shutdown functions during those conditions. I'm committed to working with manufacturers, regulators, and the trucking industry to get this right. But we have to start by listening to the people actually living with these problems every day. That's what this bill does. It listens to the working men and women who keep our country running and makes sure federal policy reflects the reality they face on the road. "

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