Copyright 1999 Star Tribune
Star Tribune
(Minneapolis, MN)
February 19, 1999, Metro Edition
SECTION: Pg. 21A
LENGTH: 687
words
HEADLINE: EPA to propose tougher standards in
effort to reduce air pollution
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: Washington, D.C.
BODY:
Tougher air-pollution requirements, soon to
be proposed for cars and, for the first time, sport utility vehicles, could
dictate not only the quality of the air but the kind of cars people will drive
for decades to come.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), after
weeks of discussions with automakers, is expected to submit a draft of the
proposed regulations within days for final review by the White
House, government and private sources said.
The new antipollution
package also would require oil companies to produce cleaner
gasoline nationwide by cutting sulfur content
by more than 90 percent. Sulfur inhibits the efficiency of
vehicle pollution-control equipment. Tighter pollution rules for both motor
vehicles and gasoline, which would begin to be phased in in
2004, would be key in determining how states meet federal air-quality goals and
the types of vehicles people will drive over the next 20 years.
EPA
officials refused to comment, pending the review of the proposal by the White
House Office of Management and Budget.
But industry and environmental
sources briefed on the draft proposal called the tougher automobile standards
essential to meeting federal air-quality goals, including new health standards
for smog and microscopic soot.
The EPA proposal specifies nationwide
tailpipe emission standards similar to those already adopted for 2004 by
California. Vehicle fleets would have to reduce emissions of smog-causing
chemicals by almost 90 percent.
It also would require for the first time
that sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), pickups and minivans meet essentially the
same emissions limits as cars, although they would be given two more years of
phase-in time.
While Ford has touted its line of SUVs as being as clean
as today's cars, many of the larger SUVs emit three to four times as much
smog-causing pollution as cars, environmentalists say.
EPA officials
have told auto and oil industry executives that future air-quality requirements
cannot be met in scores of cities across the country unless emissions from cars
and light trucks are reduced dramatically.
"This is an incredibly
important decision," said William Becker, executive director of the association
that represents state air-pollution control officials. "In many instances it
will define whether or not areas meet their federal health-based standards for
smog and other pollutants."
The cleaner gasoline alone
is equivalent to taking off the road 54 million cars, one-quarter of those in
use, Becker said. He said the tougher tailpipe standards will be like removing
an additional 50 million cars by 2020.
Transportation accounts for about
45 percent of smog-causing nitrogen oxide pollution and one-third of hydrocarbon
emissions - both precursors of urban smog - with cars and light trucks
representing a large portion of that.
According to sources, the draft
proposal would slash nitrogen oxide emissions from today's 0.4 grams per mile to
0.05 grams for cars, with a 2005-2007 phase-in. Light trucks, including SUVs,
would begin the phase-in at 0.2 grams per mile in 2004 but be required to hit
the same target as cars by 2009.
Koch Refinery, which produces about 60
percent of the transportation fuels used in Minnesota, began reducing the
sulfur content of gasoline and diesel as part
of its clean-fuels project, which was completed in 1993, said to company
spokesman Steve Dittmore. Gasoline produced at the refinery in
Rosemount contains about 80 parts per million of sulfur, he
said, well below the national average of about 330 parts per million.
Under the EPA proposal, sulfur levels in
gasoline would need to be reduced to a nationwide average of 30
parts per million by 2004, although some small oil refiners may be given more
time to make the adjustments.
Oil executives said the cleaner
low-sulfur gasoline would cost 5 to 6 cents a gallon more to
produce. The more stringent tailpipe emission requirements may add $ 160 to $
200 to the cost of a car, the EPA and the California state agency estimate.
- Staff writer Tom Meersman contributed to this report.
LOAD-DATE: February 19, 1999
