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Farm and Dairy
President wants to cut emissions from diesel agricultural equipment
04/24/2003
New engine emissions standards target agricultural equipment.
Diesel fuel powers more than two-thirds of all U.S. farm equipment
and 89 percent of all agricultural trucks are diesel powered. The
Bush administration announced a new plan to cut 90 percent of
emissions from off-road diesel engines used in construction,
industrial, and agricultural equipment by 2014.
WASHINGTON - Clouds of smog aren't typically pictured floating over
rural areas, yet farm tractors and off-road diesel engines blamed for
environmental pollution are targeted under new federal regulations.
The Bush administration announced a new plan April 15 to cut 90
percent of emissions from off-road diesel engines used in
construction, industrial, and agricultural equipment by 2014.
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the plan
will significantly reduce emissions of smog and acid rain forming
pollutants and will result in major public health benefits.
Sulfur content. The proposal lowers the sulfur content of diesel fuel
and mandates the use of less polluting engines, similar to
regulations set for on-road diesel engines that will begin in 2006.
The EPA will also lead an effort to retrofit older diesel-powered school buses.
The plan would reduce the level of pollutants from diesel exhaust,
which contains particulate matter and nitrogen oxide - the leading
components of smog - as well as sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that
causes acid rain.
The proposal requires reduction in the sulfur content in red diesel
fuel from the current average of 3,400 parts per million to 500 ppm
in 2007, the same standard as current highway diesel fuel.
It calls for this standard to be further tightened to 15 ppm by 2010
- a 99 percent reduction.
More than in past. According to a report by Environmental Defense and
the American Lung Association, diesel off-road engines are
responsible for more pollution today than when the 1970 Clean Air Act
was put in place.
The proposal would take effect for new engines starting as early as
2008 and be fully phased in by 2014.
When fully phased in, annual reductions will be 825,000 tons of
nitrogen oxide and 125,000 tons of particulate matter.
For the first time, advanced emission control systems will be
incorporated into off-road equipment.
'Workhorse of economy.' The Diesel Technology Forum, an industry
group that represents manufacturers of engines, fuel and emissions
control systems, did not fully endorse the plan.
That group issued information that highlighted reductions the
industry has voluntarily made in reducing diesel pollution.
Cost. EPA will work with industry groups to mitigate the economic
impact of the proposed rule.
The agency estimates the reduced sulfur in diesel fuel will be on
average 2.5 cents per gallon for 500 parts per million fuel and 4.8
cents per gallon for 15 parts per million fuel.
Costs range for cleaner engine technology, but the EPA estimates it
would add about 1 percent to the cost of a new $230,000 bulldozer or
piece of farm machinery.
The next step. The EPA believes the cost of cleaner diesel fuel and
tighter emissions controls are far outweighed by the benefits to
public health and the environment.
EPA has estimated that by 2030 the program will annually prevent more
than 9,600 premature deaths, 8,300 hospitalizations, 16,000 heart
attacks, 5,700 children's asthma-related emergency room visits,
260,000 respiratory problems in children and nearly a million work
days lost due to illness.
Nearly 111 million people live in areas that do not meet air quality
standards for ground level ozone - smog - and more than 70 million
people live an areas that do not meet air quality standards for
particulate matter.
Emissions. EPA estimates that off-road diesel engines currently
account for about 44 percent of diesel emissions and about 12 percent
of nitrogen oxide emissions from mobile sources nationwide.
Get the details
* www.epa.gov/nonroad
* www.environmentaldefense.org
* www.dieselforum.org
İFarm and Dairy 2003
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