HEAVY-DUTY STANDARDS/HIGHWAY DIESEL RULE
Heavy-Duty Engine & Vehicle Standards
& Highway Diesel Fuel Sulfur Control
Requirements Summary
General Background
THE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) new emission standards, taking
effect in model year 2007, apply to heavy-duty highway engines and vehicles. EPA's
Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards and Highway Diesel Fuel Sulfur Control
Requirements require stringent pollution controls on diesel engines used in trucks and
buses. The requirements will be a major step toward reaching our nation's clean air and
public health goals. Because emission control devices are damaged by sulfur, EPA is also
reducing the level of sulfur in highway diesel fuel by 97 percent by mid-2006.
Heavy-duty engines emit large amounts of nitrogen oxide (NOx), which contributes to
ozone, and particulate matter (PM). The PM emitted by heavy-duty engines contributes to
serious public health problems, such as lung cancer, aggravation of respiratory and cardio-
vascular disease and asthma, acute respiratory symptoms, chronic bronchitis, and
decreased lung function. Exposure is widespread, particularly in urban areas.
Heavy-duty trucks and buses account for about one-third of NOx emissions and one-
quarter of PM emissions from mobile sources. In some urban areas, the contribution is
even greater. EPA's program will result in PM and NOx emission levels that are 90 percent
below the levels of today's cleanest engines.
EPA's program includes provisions to facilitate the transition
to the new standards and to encourage the early introduction of clean tech-
nologies. It provides flexibility in various testing and compliance require-
ments and addresses differences between the new technologies
and existing engine-based technologies.
Refiners will be required to produce diesel fuel for
use in highway vehicles with a sulfur content of no
more than 15 parts per million (ppm), beginning
June 1, 2006. This fuel will be available across the
country by Fall 2006. /
Strategies for
Cleaner Air
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
www.epa.gov/cleandiesel
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The overall benefits of the Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards and Highway
Diesel Fuel Sulfur Control Requirements significantly outweigh the cost by a ratio of
approximately 20 to 1.
Environmental and Health Benefits
When the program is fully implemented, annual emission reductions will prevent
8,300 premature deaths, more than 9,500 hospitalizations, and 1.5 million lost work
days. The program will provide annual emission reductions equivalent to removing the
pollution from more than 90 percent of today's trucks and buses, or about 13 million
trucks and buses.
Estimated Costs
Emission reductions and the resulting significant public health and environmental
benefits of the program will come at an average cost increase of about $1,200 to
$1,900 per new vehicle, depending on the vehicle size. When fully implemented, the
sulfur reduction requirement will increase the cost of producing and distributing diesel
fuel by about 41/2 to 5 cents per gallon.
For More Information
For more information on the Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards and Highway
Diesel Fuel Sulfur Control Requirements, please visit www.epa.gov/otaq/diesel.htm.
Recycled/Recyclable—Printed with vegetable oil based inks
on 100% postconsumer, process chlorine free recycled paper.
November 2005
EPA-420-F-05-044
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
www.epa.gov/cleandiesel
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