In Praise of New Diesel Emissions Rules

America will bid an overdue adieu to the black clouds that belch from bulldozers and other diesel-powered machines.

It's rare for environmentalists to praise the Bush administration, but the applause given Mike Leavitt, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, on this issue was well-deserved.

Dirty diesel fuels and engines now on the market produce an array of pollutants: fine particulates that trigger asthma and other diseases; sulfur that can form acid rain; and nitrogen oxides may contribute to ozone pollution in some places, such as Rocky Mountain National Park.

But this week, Leavitt approved new national standards that eventually will remove the worst pollutants from all diesel fuel sold in the United States and ensure that all diesel engines meet the same important requirements.

The new standards could achieve public health and environmental benefits as great as the huge improvements realized after lead was banned from gasoline decades ago - one of the nation's most important achievements in controlling air pollution.

Using dirty diesel in a high-tech, clean engine ruins the expensive machinery. So not only do manufacturers need to make clean-burning engines, but petroleum refiners also have to produce low-sulfur, clean-burning diesel fuel.

Leavitt's action follows steps the Clinton administration took. Those rules require trucks, buses and other vehicles driven on the nation's roads to meet strict standards by 2007.

Leavitt's order puts many other polluting diesel sources under the same rules. By 2008, all diesel engines sold in the country must meet the same tough requirements - including ships, cranes, bulldozers, forklifts and tractors.

Equally important, the new rules require refineries to eventually sell only clean diesel fuel.

Nationally, the combination of better engines and clean fuels could save 12,000 lives by 2030, the year EPA expects all diesel engines in the United States to meet the standards. In the Rocky Mountains, the rules could prevent 1,000 premature deaths in the next 25 years. Children will suffer fewer asthma attacks and adults will have fewer heart attacks.

Praise goes to Leavitt and EPA's career staff, engine makers and the petroleum industry, including Denver's Gary-Williams Energy who led the small refiners' coalition. Thanks to their hard work, we'll all breath a little easier.

© 2004 Denver post

Features on Food, Health and Environment

Go to Home Page