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Dirty, Dangerous Diesel
Diesel engines are everywhere you look. Trucks, buses, tractors, bulldozers, generators, even ships and locomotives-diesel powers much of the work we depend on. Commonplace as they are, diesel engines remain one of the dirtiest ways to power anything. Diesel emissions are a major source of particle pollution and the gases that make ozone.1 Unlike the family car, diesel engines have not had to get significantly cleaner. And unlike that family car, they often last for decades.
Historic changes are already in the pipeline that will produce new, cleaner, diesel engines. The dilemma of diesels is that the old, dirty ones still in use will be with us--spewing pollution and threatening lives--for years to come.
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New heavy-duty trucks and buses will be required to add control devices that will make their engines dramatically cleaner beginning in 2007. These engines must produce 95 percent less pollution by 2010. Diesel fuels for these trucks and buses will be cleaned up beginning in 2006 by 97 percent. 2
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Heavy equipment like tractors and bulldozers, generators, and pumps will be cleaner, too, beginning with the smallest engines in 2008 and progressing to the largest engines in 2015. Fuels for these engines must also be cleaner, beginning in 2007. These fuels have long been much dirtier than that used in trucks and buses3
Some in industry are trying to get around having to make these changes, by pushing for weaker requirements or delaying the dates even longer. The American Lung Association opposes any delays in these deadlines or changes that allow dirty diesels to keep polluting.
Still, many sources of toxic diesel pollution remain untouched. While the fuels for diesel locomotives and marine vehicles are going to be 99 percent cleaner, their engines are still polluting with minimal controls. In May, 2004, EPA began taking comments on possible requirements for cleaning up these engines by some 90 percent, similar to the requirements for other diesel engines. 4 To date, EPA has not issued rules enabling the work to begin to clean up these sources.
But the largest remaining diesel sources are the diesel engines in place today. Those trucks, buses, bulldozers, tractors, and generators will be around for a long, long time. Heavy duty trucks, for instance, last on average over 25 years 5 and will continue to pollute with every mile. Buses, tractors, and other heavy equipment, not to mention locomotives and marine vessels, also have long lifetimes.
Governments can take many steps now to reduce the pollution from existing diesel exhaust:
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Replace existing mufflers with cleaner technology, including filters and catalysts, that can clean up existing vehicles.
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Require ultra low sulfur diesel and cleaner alternative fuels.
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Install truck stop electrification systems to provide long-haul truckers an alternative to running their engines all night.
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Require cleaner trucks and equipment in contract specification for public works projects.
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Eliminate exhaust from entering the cabin of school buses and transit buses by using closed ventilation systems.
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Fund programs to help equipment owners, including cities and states, replace or rebuild their dirty engines.
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Adopt anti-idling ordinances for school buses, heavy duty trucks, and other diesel vehicles. 6
It will take decades for the existing fleet to be replaced with cleaner vehicles. Now is the time to clean up these dinosaurs. We cannot afford to wait.
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