Cleaner diesel about to become road reality
11 October 2006
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The switch to new ultra-clean diesel fuel is going smoothly and supplies should be readily available at pumps when the rules take effect on Sunday, U.S. officials said Tuesday. That will mean less pollution, fewer health issues and possibly the start of a renaissance for diesel cars in the United States.
In a move to cut precursors to smog and tiny particles spewed by diesel-burning engines, the government has required U.S. refiners to make fuel with less than 15 parts per million of sulfur for use in on-road vehicles beginning Oct. 15.
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Margo Oge, director for the Environmental Protection Agency’s transport and air quality office, said that “we expect wide availability of (clean diesel fuel) across the country at numbers significantly higher than we had expected.â€
U.S. refiners currently produce about 2.4 million barrels per day of the new diesel, enough to satisfy some 90 percent of on-road demand, Oge said.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson called the new standard â€the single greatest achievement in clean fuel since lead was removed from gasoline†in the 1970s and said it would provide about $150 billion in health benefits every year.
That includes preventing 20,000 premature deaths and tens of thousands of respiratory ailments like bronchitis and asthma, the EPA said.
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“This new fuel will help to open up markets to clean diesel passenger cars, pickup trucks, and delivery vehicles that are 30 percent more efficient than current fleets with similar reductions in carbon dioxide emissions,†the EPA added in a statement. “In addition to the fuel economy and carbon emission benefits, a new fleet of clean diesel vehicles will have lower maintenance costs, longer engine life, and typically lower fuel costs.â€
The rules were finalized by the Clinton administration and later implemented by the Bush administration after a brief delay.
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