Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
Washington, DC—The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) today proposed new standards to reduce diesel pollution from the
nation’s trains, boats, and ships, which are large, long-overlooked pollution
sources. Diesel pollution contributes to
lung cancer, heat attacks, asthma attacks, strokes, and premature deaths.
“Diesel
pollution is dirty, dangerous, and needs to be cleaned up,” said U.S. PIRG
Clean Air Advocate Emily Figdor.
EPA’s
proposal covers engines used in locomotives and marine vessels, such as small
fishing boats, tug boats, barges, and ferries.
These engines have very weak, if any, pollution controls and, as a
result, are among the dirtiest diesels in the nation.
The new standards would apply to new locomotive and
marine engines but would not be fully phased in for more than a decade. In addition, EPA is proposing new standards
for the existing fleet of locomotives as their engines are rebuilt – a
requirement that should apply to existing marine engines as well, noted Figdor. U.S. PIRG also called on EPA to accelerate
the pace of the cleanup and to finalize the standards by the end of the year.
In 2000,
the Clinton
administration finalized new standards to reduce pollution from diesel trucks
and buses by more than 90%. In 2004, the
Bush administration finalized similar requirements for off-road equipment used
in construction, farming, and heavy industry.
Today’s action, if finalized, would complete the clean up of new diesel
engines by establishing comparable standards for trains, boats, and ships – an
action the Bush administration committed to undertake nearly three years ago.
“This is
a promising proposal from an administration that has worked closely with
special interests to weaken other health and environmental protections. Today’s action is a breath of fresh air, but
the Bush administration must follow through and strengthen and finalize its
proposal,” concluded Figdor.
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U.S. PIRG is the federation of state
Public Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan
public interest advocacy organizations.
