EPA Proposes Sharp Sulfur Cuts in Diesel

May 19, 2000 1:30 PM, EDT

WASHINGTON — Most sulfur in diesel fuel would be eliminated under an Environmental Protection Agency proposed rule designed to improve national air quality, but reaching these goals promises to spark major price increases at the pump.

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EPA Administrator Carol Browner announced at a May 17 press conference that the new sulfur standard in diesel fuel will be 15 parts per million, a 97% reduction from the current on-road cap of 500 ppm that was established in 1993.

The oil industry had been pushing for a standard of no less than 50 ppm.

Browner said the sulfur reduction would work with advanced diesel engine improvements and soot traps to remove 90% of the particulate matter and 95% of nitrogen oxides from exhaust emissions.

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