Copyright 1999 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
May 18, 1999
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 747 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY May 18, 1999 DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN SENATE
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS EPA'S PROPOSED SULPHUR STANDARD
BODY:
STATEMENT OF SENATOR DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE ON CLEAN Am,
WETLANDS, PRIVATE PROPERTY, AND NUCLEAR SAFETY Hearing on EPA's proposed rule on
gasoline sulfur content Tuesday, May 18, 1999 9:30 a.m. Mr.
Chairman, I thank you for holding this hearing on the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) proposal to regulate the sulfur content of
gasoline. I am pleased to note that the rule models the
provisions of my bill, the Clean Gasoline Act of 1999, by
reducing the sulfur content in gasoline to an
average of 30 parts per million, year round and nationwide. We have come a long
way since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Since that last reauthorization
effort, we have successfully and economically made major reductions in emissions
of air pollutants and tremendously expanded our understanding of the causes and
effects of environmental problems such as acid deposition, ozone pollution,
decreased visibility, and eutrophication of coastal waters. We can be proud of
these accomplishments, but we still have a long way to go. And first on our
priority list should be action on the evidence that nitrogen oxides (NOx), which
we largely ignored nine years ago, are significant contributors to air quality
deficiencies. The 1990 Amendments did not go far enough to prevent continued
human health and ecosystem damage from NOx. In particular, we now know that
ozone pollution, caused in large part by NOx emissions, can have a terrible
effect on human respiratory functions. A 1996 study of ozone pollution by the
Harvard University School of Public Health established a strong link between
ground level ozone pollution and 30,000-50,000 emergency room visits during the
high ozone seasons of 1993 and 1994. Nearly 9,000 of those visits occurred in
New York City alone, during the summer of 1994. And of course the ecosystem
effects of NOx--coastal eutrophcation, acid deposition and nitrogen
saturation--are well- documented. Clearly, any serious effort to address this
problem must address NOx emissions. Fortunately, we have identified an unusual
opportunity to make enormous NOx reductions at a minimal cost--through a simple
reduction in gasoline sulfur content. The Clean
Gasoline Act of 1999, and the EPA rule, address "mobile
sources" (mainly cars and trucks) of NOx and other tailpipe emissions. Mobile
sources account for 50% of US NOx emissions. By establishing a national,
year-round cap on the sulfur content of
gasoline sold in the United States, the EPA proposal would
dramatically and immediately reduce NOx emiqqions from the very largest single
source. And this is how: The presence of sulfur in
gasoline increases vehicle emissions by "poisoning" the
catalytic converter used to capture tailpipe emissions. In essence, particles of
sulfur coat the surface of the catalytic converter and render
it partially ineffective. In the 1970s, we removed lead from
gasoline to make possible the introduction of catalytic
converters. Now we have learned that sulfur is a catalyst
poison in much the same way. All vehicles in the nation with catalytic
converters -- virtually all vehicles -- produce higher levels of NOx because of
the high levels of sulfur in the gasoline they
burn. By reducing the amount of sulfur in
gasoline, we will allow our national fleet to immediately
realize reductions in tailpipe emissions. The cost of gasoline
would rise under this proposal -- by less than a nickel a gallon at the retail
level. For a car driven 15,000 miles per year that achieves IS miles per gallon,
the cost of the proposal would be less than $50 annually. Keep in mind, however,
that gasoline prices, adjusted for inflation, are cheaper now
than they have been at any time since 1950, the beginning point of our analysis.
And the benefits to human health and the environment of reducing
gasoline sulfur far outweigh this modest cost. A recent study
by the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators and the
Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (STAPPA-ALAPCO) found that
reducing gasoline sulfur levels to 40 parts per million, the
California standard, will bring an air quality benefit equivalent to removing
nearly 54 million vehicles from our national fleet. New York City alone would
have a benefit equal to removing 3 million vehicles from its streets. We must
not pass up the opportunity to make such large gains in emissions reductions for
such a minor cost.
LOAD-DATE: May 19, 1999