The Environmental Protection Agency says a new rule will cut down on pollution from stationary diesel engines. It applies to industrial equipment like backhoes and forklifts, and to farm tractors. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:
Transcript
The Environmental Protection Agency says a new rule will cut down on pollution from
stationary diesel engines. It applies to industrial equipment like backhoes and forklifts,
and to farm tractors. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:
The EPA says the measure will prevent up to 12,000 premature deaths, a million lost
work days, and 15,000 heart attacks every year.
The new rule aims to do two things: clean up diesel fuel, and clean the exhaust from
diesel engines. Doug Aburano is with the EPA.
“The engine manufacturers have agreed to produce a catalyst that would reduce
emissions from these engines, while we also have an agreement from the diesel producers
to reduce the sulfur content to such an extent that the sulfur would not poison the
catalysts that the engine manufacturers are doing. So you have to do a collaborative
approach like that to get to the huge reductions we’re looking at.”
Aburano says emissions of soot and smog will be cut by 90%. It will take several years
to accomplish that, as businesses and farms replace old equipment. Health and
environmental organizations are welcoming the measure.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill.