Office of Transportation EPA420-F-04-032
and Air quality May 2004
United States '
Environmental Protectior
Agency
Regulatory
Announcement
Clean Air Nonroad Diesel Rule
On May 11, 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
announced a comprehensive rule to reduce emissions from nonroad
diesel engines by integrating engine and fuel controls as a system to
gain the greatest emission reductions. Engine manufacturers will
produce engines with advanced emission-control technologies similar to
those upcoming for highway trucks and buses. Exhaust emissions from
these engines will decrease by more than 90 percent.
Closely linked to these engine provisions are new fuel requirements that
will decrease the allowable levels of sulfur in fuel used in nonroad diesel
engines, locomotives, and marine vessels by more than 99 percent.
These fuel improvements will create immediate and significant
environmental and public health benefits and will enable the use of new,
high-efficiency emission-control devices on nonroad engines. At the
same time, the Agency is taking the first step toward proposing more
stringent emission standards for engines used in locomotives and
marine vessels.
By greatly reducing diesel emissions, this rule will result in large benefits
to public health that will be even greater than EPA projected at the time
the rule was proposed. These benefits include about 12,000 fewer
premature deaths and hundreds of thousands fewer incidences of
respiratory problems. The overall benefits of the program in dollars
significantly outweigh the costs by a factor of about 40 to 1.
This rule culminates a multi-year collaborative process to reduce
nonroad diesel emissions. EPA worked closely with stakeholders from
industry, state and local governments, environmental and public health
organizations, and others in the design of this program.
-------
The Need to Reduce Emissions from Nonroad Diesel
Engines
Nonroad diesel engines contribute greatly to air pollution in many of our
nation's cities and towns. Nonroad engines currently meet relatively
modest emission requirements and therefore continue to emit large
amounts of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM), both of
which contribute to serious public health problems. Nonroad diesel
engines that are affected by the new standards currently account for
about 47 percent of diesel PM emissions and about 25 percent of total
NOx emissions from mobile sources nationwide. These proportions are
even higher in some urban areas.
Health Effects
Ozone can aggravate asthma and other respiratory diseases, leading to
more asthma attacks, use of additional medication, and more severe
symptoms that require a doctor's attention, more visits to the emergency
room, and increased hospitalizations. Ozone can inflame and damage the
lining of the lungs, which may lead to permanent changes in lung tissue,
irreversible reductions in lung function if the inflammation occurs repeat-
edly over a long time period and may lead to a lower quality of life.
Children, people with heart and lung disease, and the elderly are most at
risk.
Fine particles (PM 2.5) have been associated with an increased risk of
premature mortality, hospital admissions for heart and lung disease, and
increased respiratory symptoms. Long-term exposure to diesel exhaust is
likely to pose a lung cancer hazard. In addition, PM, NOx, and ozone
adversely affect the environment in various ways including visibility
impairment, crop damage, and acid rain.
Description of Nonroad Engines Covered by this
Final Rule
The new emission standards apply to diesel engines used in most con-
struction, agricultural, industrial, and airport equipment. The standards
will take effect for new engines beginning in 2008 and be fully phased in
for most engines by 2014. Larger mobile engines (greater than 750
horsepower) have one year of additional flexibility to meet their emission
standards.
-------
These emission standards do not apply to diesel engines used in locomo-
tives and marine vessels. However, fuel requirements for these catego-
ries are covered in this rule. The Agency is concurrently issuing an
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking announcing the intent to
propose more stringent emission standards for engines used in locomo-
tives and marine vessels.
Exhaust Emission Standards
This rule sets emission standards for different sizes of nonroad engines.
These standards are similar in stringency to the standards adopted for
2007 and later diesel-powered trucks and buses. The rule also includes
new provisions to help ensure that emission-control systems perform as
well when operating in actual use as they do in the laboratory. The
standards are phased-in over several years to provide adequate lead time
to engine and equipment manufacturers. Table 1 shows the new emis-
sions standards.
Table 1
Final Emission Standards in grams per horsepower-hour (g/hp-hr)
Rated Power
hp<25
25 s hp < 75
75 i hp<175
175 < hp<750
hp > 750
First Year that
Standards Apply
2008
2013
2012-2013
2011-2013
2011-2014
2015
PM
0.30
0.02
0.01
0.01
0.075
0.02/0.03**
NOx
-
3.5*
0.30
0.30
2.6/0.50J
o.sott
* The 3.5 g/hp-hr standard includes both NOx and nonmethane hydrocarbons.
t The 0.50 g/hp-hr standard applies to gensets over 1200 hp.
** The 0.02 g/hp-hr standard applies to gensets; the 0.03 g/hp-hr standard applies to other engines.
ft Applies to all gensets only.
-------
Nonroad Diesel Fuel
Just as lead was phased out of gasoline to prevent damage to catalytic
converters, decreasing sulfur levels in nonroad diesel fuel will prevent
damage to the emission-control systems. In addition, reducing sulfur
levels will provide immediate public health benefits by reducing particu-
late matter from engines in the existing fleet of nonroad equipment,
while reducing engine maintenance cost. This rule will reduce current
sulfur levels from about 3,000 parts per million (ppm) to 15 ppm when
fully implemented (a reduction of greater than 99 percent).
This rule will reduce nonroad diesel fuel sulfur levels in two steps. First,
starting in 2007, fuel sulfur levels in nonroad diesel fuel will be limited
to a maximum of 500 ppm, the same as for current highway diesel fuel.
This limit also covers fuels used in locomotive and marine applications
(though not to the marine residual fuel used by very large engines on
ocean-going vessels).
Second, starting in 2010, fuel sulfur levels in most nonroad diesel fuel
will be reduced to 15 ppm. This ultra-low sulfur fuel will create immedi-
ate public health benefits and will make it possible for engine manufac-
turers to use advanced emission-control systems that will dramatically
reduce both PM and NOx emissions. In the case of locomotive and
marine diesel fuel, this second step will occur in 2012.
Estimated Costs
The cost of producing 15 ppm sulfur for this program is expected to total
seven cents per gallon. Because the use of ultra-low sulfur fuel will
significantly reduce engine maintenance expenses, we estimate that this
net cost will average about four cents per gallon.
The estimated costs for a nonroad equipment manufacturer to comply
with this program vary depending on size and complexity of the equip-
ment. As an example, we estimate that for a typical 175-horsepower
bulldozer, the modifications will cost approximately $2,600, compared to
the overall price of such a bulldozer of approximately $240,000. The
anticipated costs for most categories of nonroad diesel equipment are in
the range of 1-3 percent of the total purchase price.
To reduce the economic impact of meeting new emission standards and
requirements for low sulfur fuels, the final rule includes a number of
flexibility provisions that are primarily aimed at helping small engine
manufacturers and refiners meet the requirements.
-------
Benefits of the Program
Reducing NOx and PM emissions from nonroad diesel engines by more
than 90 percent will provide a wide range of public health benefits.
Controlling these emissions will, by 2030, prevent every year about:
12,000 premature deaths, 8,900 hospitalizations, one million work days
lost, 15,000 heart attacks, 6,000 children's asthma-related emergency
room visits, 280,000 cases of respiratory problems in children, 200,000
cases of asthma symptoms in children, and 5.8 million days of restricted
adult activity due to respiratory symptoms.
In dollars, the health benefits of this rule are estimated to be $80 billion
annually once essentially all older engines are replaced. Estimated costs
for the engine and fuel requirements are many times less, amounting to
about $2 billion annually in that time frame. Thus, the cost-benefit ratio
of this program at that time will be approximately 40-to-l.
For More Information
You can access the final rule and related documents on EPA's web site
at:
www.epa.gov/nonroad-diesel
You can also contact EPA at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Assessment and Standards Division
2000 Traverwood Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Voice-mail: (734) 214-4636
E-mail: asdinfo@epa.gov
------- |