EPA Proposes New Gasoline Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency Friday unveiled a proposal for a new regulation aimed at reducing the content of sulfur and other smog-forming compounds in gasoline.
EPA estimates the rule, which would tighten emissions standards beginning in 2017, would increase gas prices by less than a penny per gallon and add $130 to the cost of a vehicle by 2025, the Associated Press reported.
But the American Petroleum Institute estimated the rule would boost the cost of gasoline by 6 to 9 cents per gallon, Bloomberg News reported.
The proposal will slash emissions of a range of pollutants, EPA said, including reducing smog-forming volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides by 80%, establishing a 70% tighter particulate matter standard, and reduce fuel vapor emissions to near zero.
The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60% and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80%, by expanding to the whole country a standard that is already in place in California, AP reported.
Once the rule is published in the Federal Register, it will be available for public comment, and EPA said it will hold public hearings on the proposal.
For more information, see www.epa.gov/otaq/tier3.htm. (EPA website)
