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EPA FINISHES FIRST PHASE OF TWO-PART STRATEGY FOR CLEANER HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS AND BUSES
Release Date: 08/01/2000
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FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2000
EPA FINISHES FIRST PHASE OF TWO-PART STRATEGY
FOR CLEANER HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS AND BUSES
The second phase of the program will require cleaner diesel fuels as well as even cleaner engines by 2007, and will reduce air pollution from trucks and buses by another 90 percent. EPA expects to issue the final rule for this second phase of the program by the end of this year.
“Today, we are completing the first phase of a strategy that will result in cleaner-running truck and bus engines,” said Robert Perciasepe, EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation. “The second phase of the strategy will be announced later this year and will include cleaner diesel fuel and even cleaner engines. By ensuring cleaner trucks and buses, the Clinton-Gore Administration is taking another major step to provide significantly cleaner, healthier air for all Americans.”
When both of these phases are fully in effect, heavy duty trucks and buses will be almost as clean as alternatively fueled vehicles such as compressed natural gas vehicles. Heavy-duty trucks that run on gasoline, as opposed to diesel fuel, must also meet tougher standards in both phases of the strategy.
Exhaust from heavy duty trucks and buses is comprised of soot and smog-forming pollution. Together, soot and smog in the United States account for 15,000 premature deaths, 1 million respiratory problems, 400,000 asthma attacks, and thousands of cases of aggravated asthma, especially in children. Motor vehicles generate about 30 percent of all emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds -- the pollution that causes smog.
The final rule will be printed in the Federal Register soon and is available electronically via the EPA Internet site at: https://www.epa.gov/oms/hd-hwy.htm.
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