Public Comment Needed on New Smog Standards for Autos and SUVs Hearing in Cleveland on June 17

Public Participation Opportunities

A toll-free telephone line to submit public comment is available at 1-888- TELL-EPA (1-888-835-5372). The telephone system will receive comments 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Callers should listen to the instructions and leave a message (up to two minutes long) that will be recorded, transcribed and included in the official docket.

EPA has set up an e-mail address to accept comments on the proposal: mailto:tier2.comments@epa.govE-mail comments can also be submitted from the Tier 2 Internet home page. Comments received by telephone and e-mail will have the same legal standing as written comments and testimony at public hearings.

For More Information Additional documents on the proposed rule are available electronically at the Internet site listed above, or by contacting:

Public Hearing Information

On May 1st the President announced proposed standards for slashing smog-forming pollution spewing from cars and light trucks as well as standards to clean up gasoline. Together these standards will dramatically reduce air pollution from cars and light trucks, including heavily polluting SUVs. The USEPA estimates then when fully phased in these standards will have the pollution reduction effect of removing 166 million vehicles off of the road.

Here is some historical context for these new standards:
The Clean Air Act set previous tailpipe emission standards (known as "Tier 1 standards") for cars and light trucks, beginning with the 1994 model year. The Act required USEPA to study whether further emission reductions (in the form of "Tier 2 standards") from these vehicles are necessary. These standards could not take effect before the 2004 model year. Under the Tier 1 standards, heavier vehicles, including SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks, pollute three to five times more than cars. In July 1998, the USEPA reported to Congress that the Tier 1 standards now in place were not adequate to meet air quality standards and that and that technology would be available to meet such standards cost-effectively.

The USEPA has therefore proposed a major program to significantly reduce emissions from cars and light trucks, including sport utility vehicles (SUVs), minivans, and pickup trucks. Under this proposal, automakers would sell cleaner cars, and refineries would make cleaner gasoline with a lower sulfur content to fuel those cars and light trucks nationwide. This comprehensive program will reduce the harmful health and environmental effects of ozone and particulate matter.

Some of you may have heard or read about a decision last week in the US Court of Appeals here in DC that threw out the new soot and smog rules we all fought so hard for in 1997. Well, we still need Tier 2 and clean gasoline standards because the air is still dirty and more than 117 million Americans live in areas with chronic smog pollution problems. Below is some information on health effects of soot and smog pollution. The USEPA was very careful in grounding these new standards in the existing one-hour smog standard as well as the new 8 hour standard. So, these proposed standards are still needed to help areas of the country meet the existing smog standard and to help other areas maintain compliance with that standard.

Highlights of the new standards:
This is a comprehensive initiative that treats vehicles and fuels as a system. Under this proposal, sport utility vehicles, minivans, and pickup trucks will, for the first time, meet the same protective standards as passenger cars. The USEPA, is however, giving too much time to the automakers to clean up the heaviest of the so-called light trucks (those between 6,000 and 8,500 pounds). The EPA is also proposing new standards for the amount of sulfur in gasoline. Since sulfur degrades a vehicle's emission control system, low-sulfur gasoline is needed to enable the use of advanced emission control technologies.

Here is a run-down on the vehicle standards:
First, the key pollutant that USEPA is regulating with these standards is nitrogen oxide pollution -- a major smog-forming pollutant. Vehicles on the road today spew out about 30% of smog-forming NOx pollution -- they are a big source and need to be cleaned up!

The proposed tailpipe standards would be set at an average standard of 0.07 grams per mile (gpm) for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) for all classes of passenger vehicles, including light-duty trucks, such as the largest SUVs. Vehicles weighing less than 6000 pounds (which includes minivans and smaller SUVs) would be phased-in to this standard between 2004 and 2007 at a rate of 25% of the fleet per year. (The current standard for cars today is .3 gpm of NOx per mile and SUVs can emit as much as 1.53 gpm.) The USEPA has an averaging system using seven "bins" or NOX levels that automakers can certify vehicles to -- ranging from a zero emitting vehicle with no smog pollution to a vehicle (likely a diesel SUV) that can spew out .2 grams per mile of NOx. Overall, all vehicles a manufacturer makes would have to meet the .07 average.

This is the good part of the standards. It is good that USEPA is finally treating all vehicles used as passenger vehicles in the same program -- starting to close the loophole that has let SUVs, minivans and pickups pollute 3-5 times more than cars.

Now, here's the part we don't like. For the heaviest light-duty trucks, the proposal provides a three-step approach to reducing emissions. The USEPA is proposing to let the Suburbans, Expeditions, and the like pollute more than the cars until 2008. In 2008, half of these monsters sold would be included in the same program as cars, and all of would be cleaner by 2009. That is just too much time. Even though USEPA is setting some interim limits on the amount of pollution spewing from these super-polluters, we need to clean these vehicles up by 2007.

Another aspect of the proposal that is problematic, is that the USEPA's averaging system for meeting the .07 gpm NOx standard includes standards that open the door for diesel engines. While the automakers would have to make diesels cleaner than they are today, they are planning to introduce diesels into their SUVs because it will help with fuel economy. The USEPA says the program is "fuel-neutral" because there is no identified level of pollution for diesels, but USEPA could and should tighten up the program to ensure that if the automakers do use diesels, they are as clean as gasoline engines. Diesel exhaust is toxic and has been identified as carcinogenic, so we need to be sure that these new standards don't allow diesels that will be dirtier than gasoline cars. We need to ask USEPA to close the door on diesels vehicles that can't be as clean as gasoline ones.

Finally, USEPA is taking comment on what to do about the increasingly larger and heavier SUVs that are now appearing. For example, the now infamous Ford Excursion (Valdez) is too heavy for this program because it is over 8,500 pounds. Some Suburbans are also too heavy. So, we need to insist that USEPA include these super-heavy passenger vehicles in these standards. The USEPA has to step in to prevent "creep" up in weight as the automakers try to evade the Tier 2 program.

The end result is that cars will be 77% cleaner than they are today and SUVs, by 2009 will be 95% cleaner.

The program also includes more stringent particulate matter (PM) standards, primarily affecting diesel-fueled vehicles, as well as more stringent evaporative emission standards, reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds (hydrocarbons), a key ingredient in ozone (hydrocarbons are also carcinogenic).

Here's the rundown on the sulfur standard:
The nation's refiners would meet an average sulfur level of 30 parts per million (ppm) by 2004, down from the current average of more than 300 ppm. The maximum amount of sulfur in gasoline, for purposes of averaging, would be capped at 80 ppm, after a three-year phase-in. Small refiners (mostly in the west -- Montana, Colorado) would have an additional four years to comply, with the opportunity of an extension for those that can demonstrate a severe economic hardship.

The USEPA is, however, allowing too much room for the oil industry to keep putting out dirty gasoline. In 2004, the oil industry could sell gasoline that has as much as 300 parts per million of sulfur per gallon. What this means as that consumers who purchase a vehicle with new cleaner technology could still by gasoline in 2004 that poisons that technology. That vehicle will never be as clean as it should have been because of the effects of sulfur. So, USEPA needs to set tighter per gallon sulfur limits in 2004 to protect the clean vehicles that will be available to consumers.

The sulfur standard is the linchpin of this whole program. With cleaner gasoline the auto industry really has not argument for not being able to clean up all of their passenger vehicles. The oil industry is pushing for a regional standard that would leave dirty gasoline to be sold west of the Mississippi and cleaner gasoline to the east. They claim the air is just fine out west. The first problem is that major cities in the west have air pollution problems and all Americans deserve the clean air benefits of low sulfur fuel. The second problem is that if an easterner drives to a western state and fuels up her clean car, she will go home with a dirty catalyst. We need a national standard. This is a key issue for the Denver hearing in particular since the oil industry proposal would most affect that area.

Here is information on how much it will cost -- NOT A LOT:
The significant environmental benefits of this program would come at an average cost increase of less than $100 per car and less than $200 per light-truck. Consumers would pay less than 2 cents per gallon more for gasoline, or about $100 more over the life of an average vehicle.

Here is more background on the need for the standards and the health benefits:
Without significant new controls on motor vehicle emissions, millions of Americans will continue to breath unhealthy air. The Tier 2 emission standards and lower-sulfur gasoline would help all Americans breathe cleaner air. The emission reductions from this program would provide much-needed assistance to states facing ozone and PM air pollution problems. When fully implemented in 2030, the proposed tailpipe standards would significantly reduce NOx emissions from vehicles by about 74 percent. The proposed standards also would reduce emissions of particulate matter, or soot, from vehicles by about 84 percent. Ozone causes a range of health problems related to breathing, including chest pain, coughing, and shortness of breath. PM can reach the deepest part of the lungs and cause increased emergency room visits, increased respiratory symptoms and disease, and even premature death. Exposure to both ozone and PM poses the greatest risk to children and the elderly. In addition, ozone, NOx, and PM adversely affect the environment in various ways, including crop damage, acid rain, and reduced visibility.