WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency will move ahead Friday, March 29, with a rule requiring cleaner gasoline and lower-pollution vehicles nationwide, amounting to one of President Barack Obama's most significant air pollution initiatives, according to people briefed on the decision.
The proposed standards would add less than a penny a gallon to the cost of gasoline while delivering an environmental benefit akin to taking 33 million cars off the road, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made yet.
Oil industry officials, however, said the cost would be at least double the administration's estimate, and could add up to 9 cents a gallon in some places.
The proposed standards, which had been stuck in regulatory limbo since 2011, would reduce the amount of sulfur in U.S. gasoline by two-thirds and impose fleetwide pollution limits on new vehicles by 2017.
The Obama administration's decision to go ahead with the regulations deals a political blow to the oil and gas industry, which had mobilized dozens of lawmakers in recent days to lobby the White House for a one-year delay.
It also comes as the administration angered many environmentalists by weighing a delay in limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants. Unlike the sulfur limits, the administration has argued, the power plant limits could immediately hurt the struggling economy.
While
gasoline sulfur itself does not pose a public health threat, it hampers the effectiveness of catalytic converters, which in turn leads to greater tailpipe emissions. These emissions -- nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and fine particles -- contribute to smog and soot, which can cause respiratory and heart disease.The proposed standards were first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday afternoon and confirmed by the administration Thursday night.
The regulations are supported by environmental advocates, state regulators and even automobile companies, who would prefer uniform sulfur standards for fuel nationwide. But oil industry officials and their congressional allies say it will cost up to $10 billion to upgrade refineries and an additional $2.4 billion in annual operating costs.
Both public health advocates and the administration say the ultimate cost would be much lower because of provisions giving refiners flexibility in complying with the standards. The EPA estimates annual health benefits of up to $23 billion by 2030.
The agency surveyed 111 U.S. refineries and found 29 already can meet the sulfur standard or come close to it; 66 can reach it with modest modifications; and 16 would require a major overhaul.
The requirements also have the potential to cut major contributors to smog-forming ozone and pollution -- nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, or soot -- by 80 percent and 70 percent, respectively, according to the administration official.
S. William Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, said the new standard could be "the most significant air pollution policy President Obama will adopt in his second term. ... There is not another air pollution control strategy that we know of that will produce as substantial, cost-effective and expeditious emissions reductions."
Automakers have lobbied in favor of the rule in part because they must already meet stricter emissions standards in California.
Environmentalists and public health advocates said reducing sulfur content is particularly important for more than a third of Americans who live in communities that do not meet federal air quality standards.
Bob Greco, group director for downstream and industry operations at the American Petroleum Institute, said the nation's refiners are struggling to meet other federal environmental requirements, including renewable-fuel mandates.
"Our industry is already facing a tsunami of regulations from EPA," Greco said. "We're just making it that much harder for refiners to compete globally and stay up and running."
