WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hoping to dramatically cut air pollution in the next decade, the Environmental Protection Agency is set to propose tough new requirements for cleaner cars and gasoline, including a dramatic reduction in pollution from popular sport utility vehicles.
The draft proposal could be sent to the White House for review as early as Friday, according to government sources.The proposed regulations, which would go into effect in 2004, have been the subject of intense lobbying by both the auto and oil industries and could shape the kind of cars Americans will drive over the next 20 years.
For the first time, automakers would be required to make popular sport utility vehicles, which along with other light trucks account for nearly half the market, as pollution-free as passenger cars, according to sources familiar with the general outline of the proposal.
In some cases, the largest SUVs would be given additional time to comply, however, according to one source, who like others who discussed the proposal, did so under conditions of not being further identified.
The EPA also plans to require oil companies to dramatically reduce the amount of sulfur in gasoline sold nationwide. The low-sulfur gas will have to contain on average 30 parts per million sulfur. Outside of California, gasoline today has more than 10 times that amount in most parts of the country.
EPA officials declined to comment on the draft proposal.
Industry sources and environmentalists, some of whom had been briefed on the proposed rules, said that they largely mirror the tougher emission requirements already planned in California, beginning in 2004.
That would include a reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions from cars from the current 0.4 grams per mile to 0.05 grams per mile in 2004. The automakers already have committed to cutting these emissions to 0.2 grams per mile under a national low-emissions vehicle program beginning in 2001.
Environmentalists said tailpipe releases of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide, both sources of urban smog, would be cut by as much as 90 percent from levels required today outside California.
"This decision will dictate how clean cars will be in the first decades of the 21st century," said Michelle Robinson of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Most important, she added, is that for the first time it will mean sharp reductions in emissions from SUVs, which, along with pickups and minivans, account for nearly half of the vehicles sold today.
William Becker, executive director of the association representing state air pollution control officials, said the tougher emission controls on both cars and SUVs will be essential if states are to meet future air quality mandates.
The cleaner gasoline alone is equivalent to taking 54 million cars off the road, said Becker, adding that the tougher tailpipe standards will be like removing an additional 50 million cars by the year 2020.
The new rules have been the focus of fierce lobbying by both the auto and oil industries.
In recent weeks, auto executives, meeting with EPA officials, argued that while they're ready to dramatically cut emissions on cars and many of the smaller and mid-size SUVs, they should be given more time, and face less stringent standards, for the larger SUVs such as the Ford Expedition and Chevy Suburban.
"We told them we can do most of what you want, but just can't get as low or as fast as you want" on the larger sport utility vehicles, said one auto executive who has been involved in the discussions.
The large SUVs are among the best sellers in showrooms. Last year they accounted for 28 percent of the SUVs sold, compared to 24 percent a year earlier, according to Ward's Automotive, which tracks auto industry sales.
According to sources, the EPA may still give some flexibility to automakers on meeting the tougher emission standards for the larger SUVs as long as manufacturers meet their overall fleet averages.
Oil executives said the cleaner low-sulfur gasoline would cost 5 to 6 cents a gallon more to produce. The more stringent tailpipe emission requirements may add $160 to $200 to the cost of a car, according to EPA and California state agency estimates.