EPA tightening pollution rules for big rigs

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EPA tightening pollution rules for big rigs

By H. JOSEF HEBERT

WASHINGTON (September 28, 1999 9:19 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) -

The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling out new rules for tougher

emission standards and cleaner burning diesel fuel to reduce pollution from

heavy-duty trucks, according to interest groups briefed on the proposal.

The EPA plans to announce some interim steps within a few weeks and follow

up by proposing regulations early next year that would dramatically reduce

the amount of smog-causing chemicals and soot coming from truck tailpipes,

according to these sources.

Meanwhile, the EPA is preparing regulations that would cut sulfur in diesel

fuel perhaps by as much as 90 percent, said the sources, who spoke on

condition of not being identified further.

EPA officials declined to give details beyond saying that some new proposals

on truck pollution will be announced within a few weeks and that EPA

Administrator Carol Browner is intent on reducing air emissions from

heavy-duty trucks.

In April, the EPA announced it would complete regulations by the end of the

year to sharply reduce smog-causing chemicals from automobiles, including

popular sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. And it proposed requiring

low-sulfur gasoline to be sold nationwide.

A similar approach that would require cleaner vehicles as well as cleaner

fuel is being developed as part of the agency's efforts to curtail pollution

from large tractor-trailer rigs, dump trucks and other heavy-duty trucks,

the sources said.

The tougher emissions and fuel standards for large trucks would begin to be

phased in by 2007, according to sources familiar with the proposal.

While the more than 5 million large trucks and buses account for only 2.5

percent of all vehicles on the road, they produce 26 percent of the

smog-causing nitrogen oxide from vehicles and more than half of the soot in

urban air, according to the Clean Air Trust, an environmental advocacy

group.