Copyright 1999 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
February 18, 1999, Thursday, JOURNAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 01a
LENGTH: 468 words
SERIES:
Today's News Journal Today's News version longest
HEADLINE: EPA to tighten controls;
Vehicles
affected by pollution proposals include SUVs
DATELINE:
Washington
BODY:
The Environmental
Protection Agency will propose, possibly within days,
regulations to dramatically reduce pollution from automobiles,
including popular sport utility vehicles, according to media reports today.
The draft proposal, which is still subject to review by the White House,
also would require cleaner burning gasoline, containing
significantly less sulfur, the Associated Press and Washington
Post reported. The tougher pollution controls for motor vehicles would be phased
in beginning in 2004. For the first time, most popular sport utility vehicles,
minivans and pickup trucks would have to meet the same emission standards as
automobiles, according to the EPA draft proposal. Currently some SUVs release
more than three times as much smog-causing chemicals as cars. While some details
remained to be worked out, the agency is proposing pollution levels for cars and
small trucks similar to those that already have been announced in California
beginning in 2004, according to both AP and the Post. EPA officials declined
Wednesday to comment on the draft proposal, which is expected to be formally
announced early in March after White House review. The final rules are to be
completed by the end of the year. Environmentalists say adoption of the
California emission standards would result in a 90 percent reduction in releases
of smog-causing chemicals from passenger cars and trucks, including SUVs and
minivans. ''This decision will dictate how clean cars will be in the first
decades of the 21st century,'' said Michelle Robinson of the Union of Concerned
Scientists. William Becker, executive director of the association representing
state air pollution control officials, called the new emission standards, if
adopted, equivalent to taking 54 million cars off the road. Together with the
requirement for cleaner burning gasoline, the tighter emission
requirements will go a long way toward helping states and local communities meet
future federal air quality mandates, said Becker. Automobiles account for more
than one-fifth of all nitrogen oxide emissions and a quarter of the hydrocarbon
compounds that are responsible for urban smog. Under the draft proposal, oil
refiners will have to cut sulfur levels in
gasoline sold nationwide to an average of 30 parts per million,
phased in beginning in 2004. Currently sulfur levels are more
than 10 times that amount in most parts of the country outside of California
which already requires low-sulfur fuel. The EPA, according to
the reports, rejected an oil industry proposal to require low-sulfur
gasoline only in areas with serious air pollution problems. Automakers
had pushed for the nationwide low-sulfur gasoline requirement,
arguing that high sulfur concentrations prevent vehicle
emission controls from working properly.
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February 19, 1999 
