EPA to hit pollution by diesel

By Traci Watson
USA TODAY

  The Environmental Protection Agency will propose
today steep cuts in the amount of pollution that comes
from the tailpipes of new diesel trucks and buses,
environmental and agency sources say.

The agency will also call for a major cut in the level of
sulfur in diesel fuel. Sulfur, which occurs naturally in
petroleum, clogs pollution-control devices.

Agency officials say the proposal is equivalent to
scrubbing the air of the pollution from 90% of the heavy
trucks and buses in the USA.

Trucks make up only a small percentage of the USA's
traffic, but they emit a disproportionate share of the
pollution in urban air.

The agency will propose that new diesel trucks would
have to reduce the emissions of two key pollutants by
90% or more:

* Nitrogen oxides, a class of gases, contribute to smog.

* Particulates, tiny specks of soot and liquid pollution,
have been linked to cancer. The black smoke that some
diesel vehicles emit is made of particulates.

The proposal will cover everything from
diesel-powered pickups to big rigs.

Motorists caught behind diesel trucks and buses
wouldn't notice a big difference for a long time: Only
new vehicles would have to meet the emissions limit
and only by 2007 at the earliest. Diesel trucks on the
road now can last 20 years.

The section of the proposal likely to stir the biggest
outcry is the limit on sulfur in diesel fuel. The EPA will
call for a maximum sulfur level of 15 parts per million
parts of fuel in mid-2006, compared with the average of
350 ppm today.

Earlier this spring, oil refiners and others asked EPA
Administrator Carol Browner to drop consideration of a
15 ppm cap. They say such a strict limit would lead to
shortages of diesel fuel and sharp price increases.

The trucking industry is also unhappy because the more
sophisticated motors required by the proposal would
raise the cost of a rig.

Environmentalists, however, are cheering the proposal.