Rolling coal: Anti-EPA drivers rig vehicles to spew black fumes
A pickup truck cruises the highway and suddenly unleashes a plume of thick, black exhaust on a pedestrian or car and, in its way, sends a political message:
The "war on coal" 鈥� and environmental regulation generally 鈥� has prompted a tailpipe rebellion.
Some drivers are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to bypass the environmental controls on their vehicles and blow dirty exhaust into the atmosphere. The installations can include large stacks on the back of pickups, .
It's called "rolling coal" 鈥� or 鈥溾�� (as supporters put it) or 鈥溾�� (as opponents label it). The practice isn鈥檛 exactly new, but it has gained prominence recently as a backlash against the limits on carbon emissions recently proposed by the聽Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).聽Youtube videos depict pickups blasting pedestrians, cyclists, Priuses, even police cars, garnering聽 and .
Despite its outsize presence on social media, 鈥渞olling coal鈥� remains fringe. Recent polling suggests a majority of Americans support emissions reductions. Seventy percent say the federal government should require limits to greenhouse gases from existing power plants, according to a from early June. Among Republicans there was 63 percent support for limits; 78 percent support among Democrats.
Diesel is a significant source of air pollution, linked to 鈥渁 cancer risk considered seven times greater than the combined risk of all 181 other air toxics tracked by the EPA,鈥� according to the , a Boston-based antipollution nonprofit.
Rolling coal may also be against the law:聽鈥淸T]he short answer is this is illegal,鈥� EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia 聽in reference to the practice. Purchia referred to a paragraph on EPA鈥檚 that reads: "It is a violation of the [Clean Air Act] to manufacture, sell, or install a part for a motor vehicle that bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative any emission control device."
