Oil industry knocks EPA's diesel-standards plan

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 4/1/2000

While high fuel costs continue to bedevil carriers in all modes, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pushing for more stringent emissions rules for diesel engines and fuel. That has sparked protests from the oil industry, which has called on the EPA to withdraw its proposal for further reductions in sulfur content and emissions. The plan currently is under consideration by the White House Office of Management and Budget and has not yet been formally introduced for public comment.

A letter to EPA Administrator Carol Browner signed by several trade groups that have interests in fuel prices says that the proposed emissions reductions could cut the supply of diesel fuel, home heating oil, and possibly gasoline. In addition, the letter says, the proposed reductions and the timetable for implementing them are not feasible.

The plan reportedly calls for reducing the sulfur cap for on-road diesel fuel from 500 parts per million to 15 parts per million by 2006. "We consider it a blueprint for future shortages of diesel and home heating oil," the letter to Browner says. The groups claim that the EPA does not have the technical information needed to support the proposed standard or predict what its effect would be on fuel supplies and the performance of heavy-duty engines.

Jim Williams, product coordinator for the American Petroleum Institute, says that requiring a sulfur level as low as the one planned by the EPA could mean that diesel fuel supplies could not be assured for the trucking industry. "The industry," he says, "has no experience producing fuel at that level."

He admits that some producers in Europe have succeeded in producing low-sulfur fuel but cautions that this does not necessarily mean that the same technology would work in the United States. "Nowhere is anybody talking about a country as large as this one," he says. "Sweden has a special fuel, but it has a population the size of Michigan's."

The oil industry favors reducing sulfur content to an average of 30 parts per million with a cap of 50 parts per million, Williams reports. "We feel that's doable," he says. "That's not to say it won't cause complications."

Attempts to reach the U.S. Public Research Group, a supporter of stricter diesel regulations, were unsuccessful.