Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
February 19, 1999, Friday ,City Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A8
LENGTH: 327 words
HEADLINE:
Tougher auto antipollution rules drafted
BYLINE:
Associated Press
BODY:
WASHINGTON
- 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, after weeks of discussions with auto makers, 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 better 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 motorists will drive over the next 20 years.
EPA officials
refused 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 from those of today's vehicles.
It also would require
for the first time that sport utility vehicles, pickups and minivans meet
essentially the same emissions caps as cars, although they would be given two
more years of phase-in time.
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.
LOAD-DATE: February 19, 1999
