The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing ‘Tier 3’ cleaner tailpipe standards that will significantly reduce smog-forming pollution from vehicles. These standards will save lives, reduce asthma attacks, and give Americans cleaner air to breathe.
Today, more than one in three Americans live where the air is sometimes unsafe to breathe, due in part to pollution from passenger cars and trucks. The proposed standards would reduce air pollution by requiring refiners to produce lower sulfur gasoline and automakers to use advanced pollution control technology.
Lower sulfur gasoline is essential for advanced vehicle technology to work with maximum efficiency. For example, hybrids, gasoline direct injection, and turbocharged engines reduce waste heat. At lower temperatures, pollution control technology can’t work at maximum efficiency, resulting in increased pollution.
These cleaner tailpipe standards will provide tremendous health benefits. According to the EPA, less pollution will prevent 2,500 premature deaths, 22,000 asthma attacks, and 3,200 hospital visits each year. Automakers, auto workers, public health organizations, and environmental groups all support these standards.
Only the oil industry stands in opposition, fighting anything that would force them to clean up their act. However, studies have shown cleaner-burning gasoline, and the health benefits that come with it, will cost less than one penny per gallon. As the EPA moves forward with Tier 3 cleaner tailpipe standards, we can all look forward to cleaner cars and cleaner air.
