At a Washington press event yesterday, EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt helped unveil a series of new, cleaner vehicles that use new low-sulfur fuel.
The program will result in cars, trucks and SUVs that are up to 95 percent cleaner than previous cars and trucks, according to the EPA. At the same time, the program will result in cleaner-burning gasoline that contains 90 percent less sulfur and reduces smog.
But as Leavitt praised automakers for stepping up to "the challenge of meeting these stringent new standards," environmentalists accused him of trying to take credit for Clean Air Act measures adopted by the Clinton Administration while simultaneously undermining clean air safeguards.
The stricter emissions standards for vehicles and the requirement to limit sulfur content in gasoline were issued in December 1999.[1] The limit on sulfur content in diesel fuel was issued in December 2000, before the Bush Administration took office.
"We are pleased that the Bush Administration recognizes the health benefits from the Clinton Administration's program to slash air pollution from motor vehicles and their fuels," said Mary Nichols, who served as the EPA's assistant administrator for air under President Clinton. She is now director of the University of California Los Angeles Institute of the Environment and vice chair of Environment2004, a political organization focused on highlighting the environmental stakes in the 2004 elections.
But, Nichols said, the Clinton-era safeguards stand in stark contrast to the Bush Administration's efforts to weaken air pollution standards in other areas.
On December 15, Leavitt proposed removing mercury from the EPA's list of toxic pollutants. If adopted, this proposal would allow power plants -- the nation's primary source of airborne mercury emissions -- to delay any mercury reductions for 15 years. The existing Clean Air Act would require a 90 percent reduction in mercury from power plants by 2008. Two days later, Leavitt signed a new rule to reduce soot and smog-forming pollution from power plants, but at a much slower rate than under previous EPA standards.[2]
In 2002, the Administration filed a friend-of-the-court brief siding with Daimler-Chrysler and General Motors in a lawsuit seeking to overturn California's zero-emission vehicle rule.
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SOURCES:
[1] Remarks by President Clinton at Clean Car Event, Dec. 21, 1999.
[2] NRDC's Bush Record.
