It's been my observation that interest groups, not government or in this case the epa, actually write the rules. Interest group can mean people like the members here, but generally the term is code for big money. An example might be that GM wrote much of the air pollution requirements and safety rules that apply to GM, not because they wanted to, but because, since they were going to be written anyway, GM could write them in such a way to make it harder for their competition to comply than it would be for GM. This example is not, of course, without exception, but it is generally true - that's how big business and government work. A current and developing example is seen in the C02 rules, which are going to be written by big coal and big oil.
Diesel rules are written by Big Diesel.
Courts generally enforce this relationship at the expense of common sense and also common people. As most lawyers will tell you, it's up to the judge...
On a moral and ethical level, then, what is left is obedience or posturing as though one is obedient. A very old friend, who was in combat in the Pacific for many months and survived a kamikaze that killed 158 guys all around him on his AK, once remarked to me that "you do what's right and don't get caught."
In a country that cannot inspect incomming goods well enough to stop tons of coke a few mislabled or vaguely labled machine parts are going to sail through... Your choice my friend, obedience or freedom.
