As the new home of WashPIRG's environmental work, Environment Washington can be contacted regarding this news release.
SEATTLE—The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it will finalize a major rule on
Tuesday, May 11th, to cut diesel air pollution from construction, farm, and
industrial equipment by more than 90 percent. EPA estimates that, once fully
implemented, the new diesel rule will prevent 12,000 premature deaths, 15,000
heart attacks, and 6,000 children’s asthma-related emergency room visits
each year.
"This rule will help
protect seniors, children and people with lung diseases including asthma, who
are the most vulnerable to the harm from air pollution," said Marina Cofer
Wildsmith, CEO of the American Lung Association of Washington. "According
to the American Lung Association State of the Air 2004 report, more than 1 in
4 Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of particle pollution. Exposure
to particle pollution leads to premature death. The clean up of non-road diesel
is necessary to protect public health."
EPA’s new rule requires
oil refiners to reduce the poisonous sulfur in “non-road” diesel fuel
by 99 percent from its current uncontrolled level of 3,400 parts per million
(ppm) to 500 PPM in 2007 and 15 PPM in 2010. After the cleaner fuel is in place,
the rule requires most new diesel-powered equipment to meet emission standards
for soot and smog-forming pollutants that are 95 percent and 90 percent tighter,
respectively, than existing standards.
“Reducing diesel emissions
is a public health imperative, and this rule is a step in the right direction,”
said Dr. Charles Weems, Environment and Health Committee member, Washington
Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Diesel exhaust is a hazardous brew
of toxic chemicals linked to cancers, respiratory diseases, and other illnesses.
Our rising childhood asthma rates underscore our responsibility to use our available
technology to keep diesel particulates out of the air we breathe.”
This strong new rule did
not escape last-minute concessions to the oil industry. The rule delays cleaning
up the diesel fuel used in trains, boats, and ships until 2012 -- two years
later than all other non-road fuel. Many of the 150,000 Americans who commented
on the diesel proposal asked EPA to clean up marine and locomotive diesel fuel
on the same timeline as other non-road diesel fuel, and in a state like Washington,
blessed with many active ports, the timely implementation of these regulations
for marine fuel is important to public health.
“This rule is a great
victory for public health and the environment, and is in stark contrast to the
Bush administration’s otherwise dismal environmental record,” stated
Aisling Kerins, WashPIRG’s Field Organizer.
The Bush administration
has consistently worked against strong clean air standards. Since President
Bush took office, he has reversed his campaign pledge to support a mandatory
cap on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, broken a decades-old promise
codified in the Clean Air Act that old, coal-fired power plants install modern
pollution controls when making other life-prolonging modifications, proposed
delaying mercury protections promised in the Clean Air Act by at least 10 years,
and proposed deferring visibility improvements in national parks for another
15 years, among other harmful actions.
