Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
December 21, 1999, Tuesday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 29; Column
3; National Desk
LENGTH: 744 words
HEADLINE: Stricter Pollution Controls Set for Cars and
Light Trucks
BYLINE: By MATTHEW L. WALD
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Dec. 20
BODY:
The Clinton administration plans to announce
a sweeping round of measures on Tuesday to reduce pollution from cars and light
trucks, an effort to reduce smog even as the number of vehicles and miles driven
rises sharply, said a government official who has been briefed on the rules.
The new rules, which were initially proposed earlier in the year, will
be phased in between the 2004 and 2009 model years. They differ from
regulations in the last quarter-century by setting the same
limits for cars and light trucks, a category that formerly consisted of mostly
commercial vehicles but that is now dominated by sport utility vehicles, pickup
trucks and minivans that are used largely by everyday drivers. They also differ
from previous federal rules in being the first to coordinate fuel changes with
specific emissions requirements.
Officials at the Environmental
Protection Agency refused to comment in advance of an announcement expected by
President Clinton. The rules have been under intensive public review for months.
The rules mandate sharp reductions in the amount of
sulfur allowed in gasoline, because sulfur
reduces the effectiveness of catalytic converters that break down pollutants
that emerge from engines.
The government has ordered changes in
gasoline before, beginning a generation ago, when refiners were
told to take the lead out of fuel, because it, too, would interfere with the
catalytic converters that carmakers were ordered to install.
"This is a
big deal, taking two million tons of air pollution from the air," Rebecca
Stanfield of the United States Public Interest Research Group told the Reuters
news service. The rules will become part of "the lasting White House legacy on
the environment," Ms. Stanfield said.
Carl Pope, executive director of
the Sierra Club, said in a statement, "President Clinton, Vice President Gore
and the Environmental Protection Agency have given all Americans the gift of
clean air."
The rules focus heavily on nitrogen oxides, which cause
unburned fuel to react in sunlight and make smog. Cars are currently allowed to
emit 0.4 grams per mile, while bigger vehicles, like vans and sport utility
vehicles, can emit 0.7 grams to 1.1 grams, depending on their size. Under the
new rule, cars in the 2004 model year will have to emit no more than 0.07 grams;
most sport utility vehicles will have to meet that standard in 2007, and the
rest in 2009.
The rules are meant to cope with pollution levels decades
from now, and would have increasing effects as new vehicles replaced older ones.
Refiners will have to reduce sulfur levels in fuel to
no more than 80 parts per million, and maintain an average of 30 parts per
million, which is about a tenth of the current average. The E.P.A. estimated
that this would raise the price of fuel by about 2 cents a gallon and that cars
would cost about $100 more. Light trucks, the government estimates, would cost
about $200 more. But some experts in both industries predicted higher costs.
The refiners had fought hard against such rules, but the auto industry
was generally happier with the balance struck between changes in fuel and
changes in cars.
"E.P.A. and automakers have invested tremendous effort"
in the rule, Helen O. Petrauskas, vice president for environmental and safety
engineering at the Ford Motor Company, said in a statement prepared for the
release of the rule.
"We have consistently said that one of the keys to
introducing advanced emissions control technologies is to have cleaner fuel,"
Ms. Petrauskas said. "We are pleased that E.P.A. has adopted a national
gasoline standard that lowers sulfur content,
and will realize the potential of the clean technologies we are already
delivering to consumers."
Ford has already committed itself to making
its larger vehicles as clean as its cars, and unlike General Motors, did not
lobby against the administration's plans. While Ford did not submit any written
comments on the rule during the public comment period, G.M. presented a
book-length document that some auto executives at other companies interpreted as
laying the basis for a court appeal.
G.M. has just redesigned its
full-size pickups and sport utility vehicles while making modest efforts to
reduce their emissions, and had not planned to redesign the vehicles again
before the 2004 model year, when these vehicles would be required to be meet a
stricter, intermediate standard for emissions.
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LOAD-DATE: December 21,
1999 
