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Clean Air Rule signed

The Bush Administration's Clean Air Nonroad Diesel Rule, signed in early May, will cut emission levels from construction, agricultural and industrial diesel-powered equipment by more than 90 percent. The new rule will also remove 99 percent of the sulfur in diesel fuel by 2010, resulting in dramatic reductions in soot from all diesel engines.

The Environmental Protection Agency's new clean air nonroad diesel regulation is viewed by environmentalists and state air pollution control officials as key to meeting federal air quality health standards. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt says the change will result "in the people of this nation living longer and living better."

Approximately 159 million people live in areas where smog or microscopic soot is making the air unhealthy. The agency cites off-road vehicles used in construction, farming, industrial plants and airports as one reason for the problem.

Those vehicles account for a quarter of al the smog-causing nitrogen oxide and nearly half of the fine soot from mobile sources, according to the EPA.

The new regulation requires refiners to lower the amount of sulfur in diesel fuel for such engines to 500 parts per million by 2007 and to 15 parts per million by 2010. Manufacturers will be able to build cleaner burning engines since the fuel will no longer contain most of the sulfur that damages catalytic converters and other emissions control devices. Diesel fuel currently contains as much as 3,400 parts per million of sulfur.