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EPA Refuses to Delay Diesel Rule By Cat Lazaroff WASHINGTON, DC, August 2, 2002 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has denied requests by manufacturers to delay strict new standards for emissions from diesel engines. On Thursday, the agency finalized a rule establishing monetary penalties for any manufacturers unable to meet the new standards in model year 2004 and beyond. The decision will impact all manufacturers of diesel engines, but it will be particularly hard on six manufacturers who signed a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1998, pledging to meet the new standards by October 2002. Some of those manufacturers have been lobbying the Bush administration to delay enforcement of that consent agreement.
The penalties will apply to 2004 model year diesel truck engines that do not meet strict new emissions standards. (Four photos courtesy EPA)In a final rule issued in August 2000, the EPA ordered stricter emissions standards for all diesel vehicles over 8,500 pounds in 2004, with additional diesel standards and test procedures in to begin in 2007.Heavy duty gasoline engines will be required to meet new, more stringent standards starting no later than the 2005 model year. The new standards require gasoline trucks to be 78 percent cleaner and diesel trucks to be more than 40 percent cleaner than today's models. The second phase of the program will require cleaner diesel fuels and even cleaner engines, and will reduce air pollution from trucks and buses by another 90 percent. The rule is expected to cut emissions of smog forming nitrogen oxides by 2.4 million tons each year, when the program is fully implemented in 2030. The program is expected to cost manufacturers about $400 in extra costs per vehicle for heavy duty diesel engines, and less than $300 per vehicle for heavy duty gasoline vehicles and engines.
Smoke from diesel buses, a familiar sight in urban areas, can lead to respiratory illnesses and even cancer.When the EPA set the 2004 model year emissions standard, the agency also committed to establishing penalties for noncompliance. Under a penalty structure established by the Clean Air Act, manufacturers that cannot meet the standards can choose to pay a penalty for each new engine they produce that does not comply with the new emissions rule.The rule allows manufacturers that might be forced from the marketplace to continue to produce and sell engines even if they cannot meet a particular emission standard. To ensure that manufacturers continue to work to lower their engine emissions as much as possible, the EPA will levy fines based on the amount by which a manufacturer exceeds federal emissions standards. The penalties range from a few hundred dollars for an engine close to meeting the emission standards, to more than $12,000 for an engine emitting the maximum pollution allowed. The penalties will also apply to engines covered under the 1998 settlement reached by the Department of Justice and EPA with six major manufacturers of diesel engines. That consent agreement settled Justice Department allegations that the engine companies evaded emission standards by installing computer software that turned off pollution controls while trucks were on the highway. Under the settlement, the manufacturers agreed to introduce cleaner new engines and rebuild older engines to meet the 2004 standards by October 2002.
Diesel vehicles are among the prime sources of the pollution that leads to smog.The EPA has already certified two engines that meet the consent decree guidelines. However, some manufacturers have asked for an extension over the October 2002 deadline, arguing that they cannot meet the new emissions standards using existing technology.Caterpillar, a manufacturer of engines for construction equipment and large trucks, went to court, seeking to have the EPA's approval of engines made by other companies invalidated. Caterpillar also prevailed on 33 members of Congress, including Illinois Republican Representative Ray Lahood, to contact the EPA on Caterpillar's behalf. The American Trucking Association (ATA) had written to President George W. Bush and asked him to delay the October 2002 deadline for the new clean air standards. The industry group also filed a petition demanding that the Bush administration throw out the new 2004 emission standards altogether. The EPA has now denied requests to delay enforcement of these standards, which will take place for the six manufacturers in October as planned, and for the rest of the industry with the 2004 model year.
Supporters of the 2007 rule say its effect will be the equivalent of taking 13 million of the nation's 14 million trucks off the road.The standards are a first step toward implementing a 2007 diesel rule introduced by the Bush administration.The 2007 diesel rule would cut sulfur levels in diesel fuel by 97 percent in 2006, and slash soot emissions by 90 percent and nitrogen oxides emissions by 95 percent, with a phase in starting in 2007. This 2007 diesel rule covers all new truck and bus engines, and will eliminate more than 8,300 premature deaths each year, according to the EPA. The final rule and supporting documents are available at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/hd-hwy.htm |
