Protecting the Nation From Air Pollution cont'd

If it is enforced, the existing Clean Air Act will require major reductions from power plants. If Congress considers legislation to require further reductions, the American Lung Association supports an approach that curbs emissions of all the major power plant pollutants. The Clean Power Act (S. 366 introduced by Sens. James Jeffords, I-VT, Susan Collins, R-ME, and Joseph Lieberman, DCT) uses just such an approach. The bill preserves key provisions in the Clean Air Act, but targets levels of power plant pollutants that must be reduced. It provides a coordinated approach for all four major power plant pollutants -- sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and carbon dioxide -- within the next six years. These components would ensure that power plants become cleaner and local air quality is protected.

In the interim, the Clean Air Act gives EPA authority to force the plants to clean up. On January 30, 2004, EPA issued a proposed "Interstate Air Quality Rule," which will result in states developing plans to force these plants to clean up. Similar to a method used in 1998, EPA will establish statewide caps for levels of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, two key pollutants that contribute to ozone and particle development. This rule would trigger planning in 29 states and the District of Columbia to reduce power plants emissions by 2015.8 Although the time given under the proposed rule is much too long (the 1998 rule required clean-up by 2004), and the cuts are not deep enough, this approach can reduce pollution significantly under the existing the Clean Air Act.

Diesel exhaust is a noxious brew of waste that adds millions of tons of particles and ozone-causing chemicals into the air each year. Recognizing that, EPA issued regulations in 2000, which were reaffirmed in January 2001, that would tackle the most visible diesels: trucks and buses, and their fuels. The regulations significantly limit tailpipe emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles by requiring cleaner engines and much cleaner diesel fuel by 2007.

The new rule will cap sulfur levels in diesel fuel at 15 parts per million and impose tough new emissions standards on all trucks and buses. This will result in a more than 90 percent reduction in emissions of harmful pollutants like particle pollution and nitrogen oxides.

The health risk from diesel exposure is greatest for children, the elderly, people who have respiratory problems or who smoke, people who do regular strenuous exercise in diesel-polluted areas, and people who work or live near diesel exhaust sources. A study released in February 2001 by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Coalition for Clean Air shows that children who ride a diesel school bus may be exposed to up to four times more toxic diesel exhaust than someone traveling in a car directly in front of it. The study found that excess exhaust levels on school buses were 23 to 46 times higher than levels considered to be a significant cancer risk, according to EPA and federal guidelines.9

In April 2003, EPA announced its "Clean School Bus USA program" to clean up diesel school buses and, in January 2004, announced plans to expand the project. EPA funds school systems to replace or clean up existing dirty diesel buses.10 Several American Lung Associations across the nation are involved in this and similar programs to help local school systems reduce this threat to children's health and to reduce the overall pollution school buses can create.

While new rules to regulate emissions of diesel truck and buses will make a great deal of difference in the quality of our air, these rules alone will not be enough. In April 2003, EPA announced a proposal to take steps to clean up heavy equipment and other diesel engines and fuel to the same degree as trucks and buses. EPA must take the final steps to clean up these engines.

What are heavy equipment diesel engines? These are engines that power large, familiar equipment: such as bulldozers and excavators used in construction, electric generators and forklifts used by industry, and tractors and irrigation pumps used in agriculture. Surprisingly, together they produce more diesel emissions than do all those trucks and buses on the highways. Particle pollution (measured as PM2.5) emissions from heavy equipment vehicles and engines accounted for 64 percent of transportation source emissions. They account for 19 percent of all emissions of nitrogen oxides, a key ingredient in forming ozone.11

Heavy equipment diesel can benefit from the technological advances that will occur in order to meet the 2007 standards required of buses and trucks -- but only if low-sulfur diesel fuel, which is necessary for these technologies to operate, is available for these engines, as well. EPA's proposed changes would require manufacturers to provide cleaner new engines beginning in 2008 and completed by 2014. Fuel for these engines would have 99 percent less sulfur, phased in between 2007 and 2010.

EPA projected a long list of benefits to human health expected each year from cleaning up heavy equipment diesel and fuel. These included:

• 9,600 fewer premature deaths;
• 16,000 fewer nonfatal heart attacks;
• 5,700 fewer cases of chronic bronchitis; and
• 8,300 fewer hospital admissions.12

As this report goes to print, EPA is expected to announce measures to make their 2003 proposals final.