New Pollution Rules Set for Trucks, Buses

W A S H I N G T O N, Dec. 21 -- The Clinton administration has approved newregulations that are expected to cut air pollution from heavy-dutytrucks and buses by more than 90 percent over the next decade.

Attacking one of the major sources of dirty air, the federalstandards will require new large trucks and buses to meet stringenttailpipe emission limits and direct refiners to produce virtuallysulfur-free diesel fuel.

The rules were announced today by the White House andthe Environmental Protection Agency as part of a flurry ofregulations being churned out in the last days of the Clintonadministration and crafted to head off challenge by an incomingBush administration.

”Today’s action will dramatically cut harmful air pollution,”EPA Administrator Carol Browner said at a news conferenceannouncing the new rules.

President Clinton, in a statement, said the new emissioncontrols “will prevent not only the thick plumes of diesel exhaustall too familiar to motorists, but also thousands of cases ofrespiratory illness and premature deaths.”

Republicans Criticize Rules

While President-elect Bush has not expressed any views on thetruck rules, some Republicans in Congress have criticized the newsulfur requirements for diesel fuel.

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Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.,has vowed to push legislation that would roll back the diesel rulenext year, arguing the requirements could lead to fuel shortages.

Browner said she hoped the incoming Bush administration wouldnot delay the new requirements, which begin to go into effect in2006.

Environmentalists, who have eagerly awaited the EPA truck anddiesel regulations since they were proposed last May, expresseddoubt they would be overturned given the widespread publicsentiment against trucks belching black smoke from theirsmokestacks.

“This is the biggest vehicle pollution news since the removalof lead from gasoline,” said Richard Kassel, an attorney for theNatural Resources Defense Council and head of a campaign to reducetruck pollution.