Cleaning the Air
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In the 30 years since Congress
approved the first Clean Air Act, substantial progress has been made to
reduce urban smog. Today’s cars produce 60-80 percent less pollution than
cars built in the 1960s; lead has been removed from gasoline and no longer
threatens the health of infants who breathe the air; scrubbers have been
installed on smokestacks to curb acid rain; and utilities have switched to
low-sulfur coal. The time has come to clean sulfur out of our nation’s
gasoline.
Reducing the sulfur content of U.S. gasoline is the most cost-effective method to achieve increasingly stringent air quality standards. Sulfur in gasoline is one of the most important factors affecting tailpipe emissions today. Currently, the sulfur content of U.S. gasoline (340 parts per million) is among the highest in the world. Reducing the sulfur content to less than 40 ppm would produce significant and immediate air quality benefits from the existing motor vehicle fleet in every region of the country. According to an analysis by the State and Territorial Air Pollution Administrators and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials, a national, year-round gasoline sulfur-reduction program would achieve emissions reductions equivalent to taking almost 54 million vehicles off the road. The air quality benefits of low-sulfur gasoline would be even greater in the growing number of vehicles equipped with the new generation of catalytic converters. These advanced catalytic converters are capable of reducing vehicle emissions by more than 99 percent from pre-control levels, but these devices can achieve this extraordinary level of emissions reduction only if low-sulfur gas is used. Sulfur poisons catalytic converters. Even brief exposure to the high-sulfur gas permanently damages these catalytic converters, impairing their ability to achieve extremely low emission levels. This is a powerful argument for a national, year-round standard. Controlling sulfur in gasoline is readily achievable using existing technology. The State of California has required low-sulfur gasoline since 1996; in addition, the European Union and Japan have adopted low-sulfur standards for gasoline. Numerous studies show that low-sulfur gasoline can be produced cheaply, costing consumers between 1 and 5 cents per gallon. Last year, I urged President Clinton and the Environmental Protection Agency to issue regulations to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline. I also joined other Members of Congress in sponsoring legislation to require low-sulfur gas. EPA recently agreed with us and has order the petroleum industry to phase in low-sulfur gasoline. The adoption of low-sulfur gasoline is especially important to Southeastern Michigan. The continued growth of our region could easily result in EPA designating Southeastern Michigan as a non-attainment area in the next few years. Under the Clean Air Act, non-attainment areas must adopt steps necessary to meet the air quality standards. In Southeastern Michigan, this could easily result in mandatory vehicle inspection programs, higher electric bills to support costly new pollution control equipment on power plants, and tough restrictions on businesses, construction, and job growth in our area. Low-sulfur gasoline will help Southeastern Michigan avoid these more stringent measures. |