ON THE ROAD TO CLEANER AIR.

• Author: Dale, Jeff

Today's cars pollute a lot less than they did a decade ago, but because there are so many more of them on the roads, our air is in jeopardy. EPA has a 25-year plan for cleaner cars and cleaner gasoline.

Driving the car to work is probably the biggest environmental sin each of us commits every day. Count yourself doubly sinful if you operate a four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicle because they pollute at least twice as much. The automobile--a source of individual pride and symbol of American freedom--is a prime culprit in fouling the environment that most of us say we want to protect.

But don't our cars pollute significantly less than they did 10 years ago, and just a fraction of the amount they did 25 years ago? The answer to this is a resounding yes. But more motorists on the road have wiped out many of the gains in pollution-cutting technologies, especially when it comes to smog. The bottom line is a steady, but overwhelming, increase in the total miles Americans drive each year. Now the federal government has set a schedule for raising tailpipe pollution standards to new levels of cleanliness over the next 25 years.

CLEANING UP CARS THROUGH 2025

The Environmental Protection Agency's new regulation, finalized at the very end of 1999, requires automobiles to run cleaner and gasoline to burn cleaner. The agency says these changes will reduce emissions by 77 percent below cars on the road today.

"We looked at emissions under current standards and knew we could do better--especially with the heavier vehicles," says Bob Perciasepe, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. "Without these changes, we would backslide to the dirty air that we worked so hard to clean."

For the first time ever, sports utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans will be forced to meet the same pollution standards as smaller passenger cars. Emissions from these larger vehicles will be reduced by 95 percent.

Policy wonks refer to the new regulation as "Tier II" because it is the second round of across-the-board tailpipe pollution reductions under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Tier I standards took effect in 1994, and the Clean Air Act called for a decision on stricter standards by Dec. 31, 1999. Tier II requires specific limitations on hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, the exhaust pollutants that morph into smog in the hot sunshine. Auto manufacturers will have until 2004 before Tier II kicks in, and till 2009 before every new passenger vehicle must meet the standard.

Delegate James Hubbard is active on air quality issues in the Maryland General Assembly and met with EPA administrator Carol Browner during the agency's consideration of the Tier II regulation. "These regulations are fair. I told Administrator Browner that it wasn't just regulators who supported stricter tailpipe standards or the executive branch of state government. Many state legislators felt as strongly as the regulators did."

Not all legislators are as optimistic about Tier II; some are taking a more cautious approach to the regulation. "What Tier II will achieve for air quality is not absolutely clear," says Representative Warren Chisum of Texas, "We'll have to wait and see."

Tier II will combat air pollution by regulating both vehicles and gasoline. In addition to the stricter tailpipe rules, there will be a new fuel standard that limits sulfur content in gasoline. Sulfur clogs up catalytic converters, and most auto manufacturers claim it would be nearly impossible to meet the new tailpipe standards without decreasing sulfur in gas. Currently, gasoline sold outside of California generally contains sulfur levels of 300 parts per million (ppm). The new rule will require refiners to limit sulfur to a 30 ppm average with a maximum content of 80 ppm by 2006, although certain Western states and small refiners will be given extra time to make the changes.

Automobile and engine manufacturers, fuel refiners, and health and environmental interests were actively involved in working with EPA and helped arrive at the final decision on new pollution and fuel standards.

"On balance, we support the goals that EPA has laid out," says Josephine Cooper, president of the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers. "Tier II is a formidable technical challenge for auto manufacturers, but it's a workable rule."

EPA's decision to compose a regulation that affects both automobiles and gasoline standards led to bickering...