Janusz
Veteran Member
WASHINGTON (AP) The Bush administration will enforce rather than challenge rules issued in the waning days of the Clinton presidency that go after diesel trucks and buses as a source of dirty air, Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman said Wednesday.
The regulations require new diesel fuel formulations and cleaner engines to reduce tailpipe pollutants over the next decade. The goal is to prevent as many as 8,300 premature deaths and 17,600 cases of acute bronchitis in children each year.
''The rule provided enough flexibility ... and the need for the states to have this gave me compelling reason to recommend it,'' Whitman said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The EPA has estimated that the new rules, when fully in effect, each year will eliminate 2.6 million tons of smog-causing chemicals and 110,000 tons of soot from heavy-duty trucks and buses.
Whitman had said during her confirmation hearings in January that she would take a look at the regulations that were issued Dec. 21. The rules were opposed by many Republicans in Congress and the petroleum and trucking industries, both large donors in last year's political races.
But the standards, in the works for years, were embraced by a broad coalition of groups, from the American Lung Association to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Whitman said Wednesday she would seek opinions from an advisory panel and require it to report to her annually on ''how we are moving on the reformulated diesel.''
Just before departing for a conference of industrial nations' environmental ministers in Trieste, Italy, Whitman also said the administration will be ''re-examining our positions on climate change.''
Candidate Bush opposed the 1997 Kyoto international accord negotiated by the Clinton administration for reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Implementing the agreement has faltered over European objections to U.S. proposals that would reduce the burden on American industry for meeting the global targets.
''We reserve the right and will be re-examining our positions on climate change and all the issues,''
Whitman said, adding that the administration is considering new limits on carbon dioxide emissions from the coal-burning power plants.
''There's a recognition that this is a new administration and we understand that we need to have domestic action,'' she said.
The diesel decision came a day after the Supreme Court upheld new air pollution standards for smog-causing ozone and soot, or diesel exhaust particulate. The justices ruled unanimously that the EPA rightfully disregarded the costs to industry in establishing them.
Whitman, embracing the court's decision, said attorneys in her agency are ''revisiting'' the standards to determine a timetable for implementing them. ''We don't know how we're going to meet it yet,'' she said.
The diesel rule is scheduled to go into effect March 18. It requires refiners to reduce the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel by 97 percent between 2006 and 2009.
Beginning with the model-year 2007, trucks and buses will have to be equipped with engines that produce 90 percent fewer emissions of particle soot. By the 2010 model year, nitrogen oxides emissions from diesel engines have to be reduced by 95 percent.
''Every American will breath easier because of this decision,'' said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust, a watchdog group. ''That Supreme Court ruling underscores the need to clean up dirty trucks and buses.''
But the American Trucking Association said Wednesday that the EPA still has failed to meet its concerns that the diesel fuel supply will be adequate and proper distribution systems will be in place.
''This uncertainty could have a significant impact on the daily operations of trucking companies,'' said Walter B. McCormick, Jr., the group's president. ''EPA should require cleaner fuel for all diesel engine users, something EPA's diesel fuel rule does not address.''
EPA has estimated the rule will raise costs of new diesel vehicles by $1,200 to $1,900. Higher fuel costs attributed to the regulation are estimated by the agency at four to five cents a gallon.
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John/Y2K Golf GLS TDI auto
The regulations require new diesel fuel formulations and cleaner engines to reduce tailpipe pollutants over the next decade. The goal is to prevent as many as 8,300 premature deaths and 17,600 cases of acute bronchitis in children each year.
''The rule provided enough flexibility ... and the need for the states to have this gave me compelling reason to recommend it,'' Whitman said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The EPA has estimated that the new rules, when fully in effect, each year will eliminate 2.6 million tons of smog-causing chemicals and 110,000 tons of soot from heavy-duty trucks and buses.
Whitman had said during her confirmation hearings in January that she would take a look at the regulations that were issued Dec. 21. The rules were opposed by many Republicans in Congress and the petroleum and trucking industries, both large donors in last year's political races.
But the standards, in the works for years, were embraced by a broad coalition of groups, from the American Lung Association to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Whitman said Wednesday she would seek opinions from an advisory panel and require it to report to her annually on ''how we are moving on the reformulated diesel.''
Just before departing for a conference of industrial nations' environmental ministers in Trieste, Italy, Whitman also said the administration will be ''re-examining our positions on climate change.''
Candidate Bush opposed the 1997 Kyoto international accord negotiated by the Clinton administration for reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Implementing the agreement has faltered over European objections to U.S. proposals that would reduce the burden on American industry for meeting the global targets.
''We reserve the right and will be re-examining our positions on climate change and all the issues,''
Whitman said, adding that the administration is considering new limits on carbon dioxide emissions from the coal-burning power plants.
''There's a recognition that this is a new administration and we understand that we need to have domestic action,'' she said.
The diesel decision came a day after the Supreme Court upheld new air pollution standards for smog-causing ozone and soot, or diesel exhaust particulate. The justices ruled unanimously that the EPA rightfully disregarded the costs to industry in establishing them.
Whitman, embracing the court's decision, said attorneys in her agency are ''revisiting'' the standards to determine a timetable for implementing them. ''We don't know how we're going to meet it yet,'' she said.
The diesel rule is scheduled to go into effect March 18. It requires refiners to reduce the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel by 97 percent between 2006 and 2009.
Beginning with the model-year 2007, trucks and buses will have to be equipped with engines that produce 90 percent fewer emissions of particle soot. By the 2010 model year, nitrogen oxides emissions from diesel engines have to be reduced by 95 percent.
''Every American will breath easier because of this decision,'' said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust, a watchdog group. ''That Supreme Court ruling underscores the need to clean up dirty trucks and buses.''
But the American Trucking Association said Wednesday that the EPA still has failed to meet its concerns that the diesel fuel supply will be adequate and proper distribution systems will be in place.
''This uncertainty could have a significant impact on the daily operations of trucking companies,'' said Walter B. McCormick, Jr., the group's president. ''EPA should require cleaner fuel for all diesel engine users, something EPA's diesel fuel rule does not address.''
EPA has estimated the rule will raise costs of new diesel vehicles by $1,200 to $1,900. Higher fuel costs attributed to the regulation are estimated by the agency at four to five cents a gallon.
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John/Y2K Golf GLS TDI auto
