New Auto and Truck Pollution Standards Will Save Lives and Prevent Illness

On March 3, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new emission and fuel standards that will result in significant air quality improvements through reductions in car and truck emissions. The standards target the pollutants that contribute to ground-level ozone pollution (non-methane hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides), particle pollution (particulate matter), carbon monoxide, and toxic air pollutants. Compared to current emission standards, the new car and light-duty truck emission standards, which will be phased in between 2017 and 2025, represent an 80 percent reduction in emissions of the pollutants that form ground-level ozone and a 70 percent reduction in particle pollution emissions. The heavy-duty truck emission standards represent about a 60 percent reduction in emissions of the ozone-forming pollutants and particles compared to current standards. 

The Tier 3 emission standards, as they are technically called, are actually a package of standards that address tailpipe emissions, fuel quality, and evaporation limits. In order to achieve tighter tailpipe limits, EPA is reducing the allowable amount of sulfur in gasoline, from the current 30 parts per million to 10 parts per million. This improvement in fuel quality, which mirrors current gasoline quality in California, Europe, Japan, and other countries, will make current and future vehicle emission control systems more efficient in reducing pollution, as well as allow for development of new, low-cost pollution control technologies that will improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. As a result of these improvements, consumers will also benefit from the extension of the warranty on emission control systems from 120,000 miles to 150,000 miles.

When fully implemented by 2030, these standards will prevent the following health problems each year:

  • Up to 2,000 premature deaths
  • More than 2,000 hospital admissions and asthma-related emergency room visits
  • 19,000 asthma exacerbations
  • 30,000 upper and lower respiratory symptoms in children
  • 1.4 million lost school days, work days, and restricted activities due to illness

The health benefits noted above are estimated to be worth between $6.7 and $19 billion annually, while costing approximately $1.5 billion. These new standards are extremely cost effective, with the program projected to add less than a one cent to the cost of gasoline and $72 for each vehicle.

The Tier 3 emission standards, timed to align with the 2012 federal vehicle greenhouse gas emission limits for cars and California’s Low Emission Vehicle 3 program, will be an essential component of efforts to achieve better air quality for the 149 million people who currently live in areas that do not meet national standards. The new vehicle pollution limits, which are supported by the auto industry, highlight the importance of the federal government’s role in developing effective programs that protect our health.

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Comment submitted by Albert Donnay:

Please note that EPA's Tier 3 standards are not "targeting" carbon monoxide.   

While EPA says the standards will reduce CO emissions in its press materials-- http://www.epa.gov/otaq/documents/tier3/420f14009.pdf , the actual rule does not add any new CO requirements -- http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-04-28/pdf/2014-06954.pdf

In Table III-1 of the rule on page 23443, EPA projects that CO emissions will be reduced from 2% in 2018 to 25% in 2030 compared to the current CO "onroad inventory."  

But the rule references only one study [ref 201, an anonymous EPA report] that tested high and low SO2 fuels in a variety of used vehicles in regular use, and it reported only a 9.5% reduction.  EPA does not explain how it got the 25% estimate. [full text at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/models/moves/documents/420r14002.pdf ]

Table III-1 also gives estimated percent reductions for other pollutants that appear to have been deliberately fudged.   The reductions for NOx and VOCs --which are the primary rationale for Tier 3 standards--are shown as 25% and 16% by 2030, but the actual percentages are just 12% and 11% (assuming the listed tonnages are correct). 

EPA derived the higher percentages by reducing the denominator--the onroad inventory against which the reductions are compared--by 50% for NOx and 25% by VOCs.  In contrast, EPA lowered the CO denominator only 1%.  Nowhere does EPA explain why the denominators were adjusted so differently.

Other examples:   the 10% reduction estimated for PM is only 6% after correcting for the 39% smaller denominator, the 26% reduction estimated for benzene is only 15% after correcting for the 43% smaller denominator, and the 10% reduction estimated for formaldehyde is only 5% after correcting for the 50% smaller denominator.

Whatever the actual CO reductions may be, my concern is that EPA is not requiring any even though CO emissions still exceed those of all other NAAQS and hazardous air pollutants regulated by EPA combined.

And it's not as if CO is without effect.  Over 100 epi studies show that small increases in current levels of CO --far below EPA's 1971 standards allow-- pose higher relative risks [for each interquartile increase in exposure]  than exposure to ozone or particulates, and especially for fetuses, infants and children.