Copyright 1999 The Baltimore Sun Company
THE
BALTIMORE SUN
May 1, 1999, Saturday ,FINAL
SECTION: TELEGRAPH ,1A
LENGTH: 1162 words
HEADLINE:
New EPA rules target gasoline, SUVs; Changes would come over
next 10 years
BYLINE: Jonathan Weisman
SOURCE: SUN NATIONAL STAFF
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton will propose
stringent new environmental regulations today to create
cleaner-burning gasoline and force auto companies to make their
popular sport utility vehicles comply with the same pollution standards that
apply to cars.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposals -- which
Clinton will unveil in his weekly radio address this morning -- would lower the
amount of sulfur in gasoline, thus reducing
emissions from all vehicles and preventing sulfur particles
from destroying pollution-control technologies such as a new generation of
catalytic converters.
They would also sharply lower emissions from some
sport utility vehicles and minivans, which are now regulated as work vehicles
under much more lax environmental controls. Such vehicles now make up more than
half the new passenger cars and trucks sold, and are threatening to overwhelm
cities already struggling to comply with air quality standards. "The
administration and the EPA deserve a round of applause," said Ann Mesnikoff,
director of the Sierra Club's Clean Car Campaign. "They're tackling two huge
pollution problems."
As theirpresence has grown on the nation's roads
and highways, sport utility vehicles have become lightning rods for criticism,
not just from environmentalists but also from passenger car drivers who are
beginning to feel outgunned by what some have called "urban assault vehicles,"
for their ability to wreak disproportionate damage in a collision.
Their
owners sing the praises of their size, style and convenience, and automakers
have responded with more and more models.
A recent EPA study found that
the emissions from more than 65 million sport utility vehicles -- classified by
regulators as light trucks -- match those from the 125 million cars now on the
road. Under existing regulations, light trucks are allowed to
spew 75 percent to 175 percent more smog-causing emissions than even the biggest
luxury car.
It is that inequity that the White House is seeking to
address. But the administration's solutions will not be implemented anytime
soon, since the standards include a loophole large enough to drive a four-wheel-
drive Chevrolet Suburban through.
Automakers will not have to begin
complying with the regulations until 2004, when 25 percent of
new vehicles would have to meet the cleaner standards. All vehicles weighing up
to 6,000 pounds would have to meet the standards by 2007. But large sport
utility vehicles such as the Ford Expedition and the Chevrolet Tahoe would be
given a reprieve until 2009.
Moreover, the largest sport utility
vehicles, such as four-wheel-drive Suburbans and the coming Ford Excursion,
would be exempt altogether. Such vehicles, weighing more than 8,500 pounds, are
considered heavy trucks and are not subject to regulations that
were first authorized by Congress long before anyone believed such giants would
be commonly used as passenger cars.
"In effect, they're creating a
loophole for the worst, dirtiest cars," said Mesnikoff, who worries that
automakers will be tempted to build more vehicles that exceed the
regulations' weight threshold.
Still, environmentalists
say, the regulations would lower emissions from cars and most
minivans by as much as 86 percent and from sport utility vehicles and light
trucks by up to 95 percent, once they are fully implemented. The 3 million tons
of pollutants spared from the air would be equal to pulling 166 million cars off
the roads.
And their implementation is crucial, proponents say. Since
the 1970s, automakers and truck buyers have curried favor from Congress and
presidents, from tax breaks to regulatory loopholes. Until recently, however,
the social impact of such favoritism has been insignificant.
In the
mid-1970s, when many environmental standards were first proposed, there were
only about 20 million light trucks in use. That total has more than tripled, and
continues to grow.
But regulating the problem will come at a cost -- at
the gasoline pump and the automobile showroom.
After a
60-day comment period, the EPA will move to complete the proposals, which
administration officials hope to institute by the end of the year. Because the
regulations stem from the 1990 Clean Air Act, they do not need
the approval of Congress, though conservative lawmakers and industry lobbyists
are likely to try to thwart their implementation.
"By reducing the
pollution that spews from the tailpipes of cars and SUVs, the Clinton
administration is making America a healthier place for children to grow up,"
said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, which has been pushing
hard for sport utility vehicle regulation.
Oil industry
lobbyists and some automakers were far less supportive. The sulfur
regulations and emissions standards actually mirror restrictions
already adopted by California, but oil executives said yesterday that it would
be unfair and costly to apply the same standards drafted for the nation's dirty
coastlines to states that have no clear air problems.
While
regulation supporters said the costs of cleaner-burning gas
would total 1 cent to 2 cents a gallon, the American Petroleum Institute pegged
the price at 5 cents to 6 cents a gallon, or $7 billion a year.
"An approach that does not recognize differences in air quality means
that consumers will pay more than necessary, and refiners will be hard pressed
to make the reductions on schedule," said William F. O'Keefe, the petroleum
institute's executive vice president.
There will be costs for automakers
as well. When California regulators approved new sport utility vehicle emission
standards in November, they estimated that compliance would cost between
$96 and $304 for each vehicle. But the car
industry warned it could be substantially higher than that for its largest
models.
Still, the reaction from carmakers has been muted, in part
because of the criticism they have taken from environmentalists for burgeoning
sales of their ever-larger vehicles. Last year, Ford Motor Co. announced its
1999 sport utility vehicles and Windstar minivans would produce as few emissions
as its cars, and Chrysler followed suit with the same pledge for its popular
Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Automakers also got much of what they wanted from
the proposed rules, including provisions that allow them to average the
emissions from their entire line of vehicles. In that way, larger trucks can
exceed the average required emission standards as long as they are offset by
cleaner burning small cars that fall well below the required standards.
Car makers also got the cleaner gasoline regulations
they have long sought. Industry officials have long contended the problem with
auto emissions has more to do with the fuel the cars burn than the cars
themselves. Low-sulfur fuel will automatically lower emissions
and allow them to use existing technology that would now be clogged by today's
dirtier gasoline.
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