New Gasoline and Auto Pollution Standards Will Save Lives, Money and Clear Our Air

The Environmental Protection Agency's new standards for gas and vehicle emissions that will be announced today will dramatically reduce hazardous air pollution such as smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

Luke Tonachel, senior vehicles analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, made the following comment:

"These common-sense standards will save lives, save money and clean up our air - all at a minimal cost.

"Big Oil companies want us to believe these benefits aren't worth it. But that's because they care about profits above all else."

The impact of the proposed standards on gasoline prices is expected to be less than a penny per gallon, according to the EPA. In return, Americans will save over $10 billion per year in health-related costs by 2030.

According to a poll by the American Lung Association, Americans support improved standards for gasoline and tailpipe emissions from new vehicles by a 2-to-1 margin (62 percent to 32 percent).

Automakers also support these standards. But Big Oil companies are fighting them so they can continue to avoid paying for the costs of their pollution - even as they take home record profits and $8 billion in tax breaks and subsidies at the public's expense.

The Tier 3 standards require gasoline sulfur be reduced from 30 ppm to 10 ppm. The lower-sulfur gasoline will cut pollution from existing vehicles and enable new vehicles to meet tighter tailpipe standards. Currently, gasoline and new cars meet Tier 2 standards that were implemented from 2000 to 2007 and resulted in a nearly 10-fold reduction in sulfur and cut tailpipe emissions of nitrogen oxides by roughly 80 percent.

The EPA will now open the standards to public comment before adopting a final rule later this year.

For more details, please see Luke's blog here: https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ltonachel/.