New Pollution Rules Set for Trucks, Buses

W A S H I N G T O N, Dec. 21, 2000 -- 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.

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.

The rules apply to new trucks and replacement truck engines soldbeginning in late 2006. It is expected to take at least a decadebeyond that for the cleaner trucks to replace most of the currentfleet. Still, the pollution reductions eventually will be equal toremoving 13 million trucks from the road, according to variousestimates.

The Rules

To meet the more stringent emission standards, heavy-duty truckswill, for the first time, be equipped with pollutioncontrols that capture exhaust chemicals—similar to the catalyticdevices that have been required on cars for years.

At the same time, 80 percent of the diesel fuel sold nationwidewill have to be virtually sulfur free — on average 15 parts permillion of sulfur—by 2006.

All diesel will have to meet the new requirement by 2010.

EPA officials have maintained that the ultra-low sulfur diesel is essential for the new pollution controlequipment to work properly.

The new standards anticipate about a 95 percent reduction ofsmog-causing nitrogen oxide, compared to levels already expected tobe achieved from trucks by 2004, and a 90 percent reduction inmicroscopic soot.

Diesel soot, which has been associated with increased asthma,bronchitis and heart disease, as well as possibly cancer, has beenof special concern to health specialists. A recent study at theJohns Hopkins School of Public Health found a link between exposureto microscopic soot and death rates in 20 large cities.

Industry Questions Move

But oil companies and truck engine manufacturers have questionedwhether they can meet the EPA’s timetable for both the cleanertruck engines and the fuel.

“These are unprecedented standards,” said Allen Schaeffer,executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, an industrygroup. “The kind of levels of reductions that are being talkedabout are going to require technology that is not commerciallyavailable yet.”

The American Petroleum Institute cited a study said the newsulfur requirements would boost diesel prices by at least 15 centsa gallon and cause “a significant risk of [fuel] shortages” by2007. The EPA has estimated the additional cost at less than 5cents a gallon with no expected shortages.

The new 15 parts per million sulfur level compares to an average500 parts per million in today’s fuel. Oil companies have arguedthat reduction may not be technically possible and urged a cut to50 parts per million.