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Gold/Mining/Energy : Global Thermoelectric - SOFC Fuel cells (GLE:TSE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: keith massey who wrote (724)	4/18/1999 3:29:00 PM
From: LABMAN	Respond to of 6016

US govt tightens Emission standards... Home - Yahoo! - Help [ Business \| US Market \| By Industry \| IPO \| AP \| S&P \| International \| PRNews \| BizWire ] Sunday April 18, 2:45 pm Eastern Time New gov't rules set for cleaner gasoline, vehicles By Tom Doggett WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - The federal government will propose rules, possibly as early as this week, to require oil companies to produce cleaner gasoline with less sulfur and automakers to build light trucks and sports-utility vehicles that have the same emissions standards as cars. The new requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency would be equivalent to removing 54 million polluting cars from the road. While the result would be cleaner air, the rules could also increase the price for gasoline, the popular pickup trucks and SUVs -- which now account for half of U.S. vehicle sales. The stronger standards are the result of an EPA study last year that concluded 84 million Americans would continue to breathe unhealthy air unless cars and light trucks became cleaner. It marks the first time the nation's emission rules would be substantially strengthened since the 1990 Clean Air Act. The rules are still being fine-tuned by an interagency group, including the Office of Management and Budget, which is expected to finish its work this week, according to sources familiar with the proposal. The rules would allow the new emission and cleaner gasoline standards to be phased in over several years beginning in 2004, the sources said. Specifically, the sulfur in gasoline, which nationally now averages 340 parts per million (PPM), would have to be reduced to about a tenth of current levels, possibly as little as 30 PPM. At the same time, pickup trucks and SUVs will have to reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxides -- a key ingredient in smog. The biggest and most polluting SUVs will not have to fully comply with the new standards until 2009. Automobile manufacturers have urged the EPA to lower the sulfur content in gasoline, arguing the catalytic converters in auto engines would run better. On the other hand, oil companies contend they would be stuck with the bills to upgrade their refineries to produce the cleaner gasoline, which would raise motor fuel costs. The EPA agreed, saying in an agency staff paper last year: ''Significant sulfur reduction would likely require investment in new refinery equipment and increases in operating costs.'' The new requirements could raise gasoline prices 5 cents to 8 cents a gallon with current refining technology, while promising new technology could reduce the costs to just 2 cents a gallon, the agency said. Smaller refiners would have more time to convert their operations to produce the cleaner gasoline, under the federal standards. Oil companies have proposed that gasolines with different levels of sulfur be allowed in certain regions of the country. For example, gasoline with lower sulfur would be marketed in the more-polluted eastern U.S., while motor fuel with more sulfur would be sold in western states. However, environmental groups argue some vehicles could travel out of a region and then return with more polluting gasoline. Once EPA issues its rules, the proposal will be open to public comment and then possibly modified before the final guidelines take effect. Related News Categories: automobiles, oil/energy, US Market News Help Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. See our Important Disclaimers and Legal Information. Questions or Comments? lm