Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
WASHINGTON, DC—The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it will finalize a
major rule on Tuesday to cut diesel air pollution from construction, farm, and
industrial equipment by more than 90 percent. The rule essentially extends fuel
and emission standards adopted in 2000 for new diesel trucks and buses to non-road
applications, such as new diesel backhoes, tractors, and heavy forklifts. EPA
estimates that, once fully implemented, the new diesel rule will prevent 12,000
premature deaths, 15,000 heart attacks, and 6,000 children's asthma-related
emergency room visits each year.
"It's remarkable that
these strong rules come from the same administration that has otherwise turned
back the clock on 30 years of environmental progress," said U.S. Public
Interest Research Group Clean Air Advocate Emily Figdor. "It's great to
see science win out over the special interests for a change," she continued.
EPA's new rule requires
oil refiners to reduce the poisonous sulfur in "non-road" diesel fuel
by 99 percent from its current uncontrolled level of 3,400 parts per million
(ppm) to 500 PPM in 2007 and 15 PPM in 2010. After the cleaner fuel is in place
(sulfur damages pollution controls), the rule requires most new diesel-powered
equipment to meet emission standards for soot and smog-forming pollutants that
are 95 percent and 90 percent tighter, respectively, than existing standards.
The engine standards phase in from 2008 to 2015.
Even this rule, however,
did not escape last-minute concessions to the oil industry, according to a U.S.
PIRG analysis. The rule delays cleaning up the diesel fuel used in trains, boats,
and ships until 2012—two years later than all other non-road fuel. A recent
study by air pollution officials in the Northeast found very high levels of
fine particle soot on train platforms and in train waiting rooms. Many of the
150,000 Americans who commented on the diesel proposal asked EPA to clean up
marine and locomotive diesel fuel on the same timeline as other non-road diesel
fuel.
"After oil industry
lobbying, the Bush administration chose to put off until 2012 what should be
done today to protect our health," said Figdor.
In 2000, EPA adopted fuel
and emission standards to reduce pollution from new diesel trucks and buses
by 90 percent by 2010. EPA passed the very first emission standards for new
diesel-powered equipment in the mid-1990s, meaning that most equipment in use
today is uncontrolled. Under existing standards, a diesel bulldozer manufactured
in 2007 could emit 15 to 30 times more soot and 15 times more smog-forming pollutants
as a new diesel truck.
Diesel exhaust is a likely
human carcinogen. A
2002 U.S. PIRG report found that diesel pollution accounts for 89 percent
of the total cancer risk from air pollution nationwide. Today's diesel engines
also release large amounts of soot and smog-forming pollutants, which are linked
to serious respiratory, heart, and lung diseases, such as asthma and bronchitis,
congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease, heart attacks, and premature
death. In addition, these pollutants obscure visibility in national parks and
pollute lakes and forests with acid rain.
This action stands in stark
contrast to the Bush administration's otherwise dismal environmental record,
noted Figdor. On air pollution alone, the administration has reversed its campaign
pledge to support a mandatory cap on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide,
broken a decades-old promise codified in the Clean Air Act that old, coal-fired
power plants install modern pollution controls when making other life-prolonging
modifications, proposed delaying mercury protections promised in the Clean Air
Act by at least 10 years, and proposed deferring visibility improvements in
national parks for another 15 years, among other harmful actions.
"Several very dedicated
staff championed this rule doggedly within EPA to achieve this result, and we
applaud their efforts," noted Figdor.
U.S. PIRG is the national
advocacy office for the State Public Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are
non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organizations.
