New Fuel Rules Will Help Clear the Air

Stricter standards for gasoline and vehicle emissions recently announced by the federal Environmental Protection Agency are expected to help significantly reduce harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. So-called Tier 3 standards will require the levels of sulfur in gasoline to drop by two thirds (from 30 ppm to 10 ppm), which will both enable current cars and trucks to run cleaner and future models to meet stricter tailpipe emissions criteria. Models meeting Tier 3 standards should generate 80 percent less smog-producing compounds and 70 percent less particulate matter (soot) than vehicles now on the road. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington D.C., this will prevent thousands of asthma attacks and up to 2,000 premature deaths annually. The EPA says the new rules - which will likely cause gas prices to rise by about a penny a gallon - should be finalized by year’s end and implemented starting in 2017.