MARGO T. OGE PROPOSAL FOR CLEANER HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS AND BUSES AND CLEANER DIESEL FUEL OPENING STATEMENT PUBLIC HEARING ACT 1 OF THE BALLROOM, CROWN PLAZA HOTEL NEW YORK, NY JUNE 19, 2000 GOOD MORNING. ON BEHALF OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, WELCOME TO TODAY'S HEARING AND THANK YOU FOR COMING. WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING YOUR VIEWS ON A PROPOSAL WE BELIEVE TO BE CRITICAL TO THE FUTURE OF AIR QUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES. I AM MARGO OGE, DIRECTOR OF EPA'S OFFICE OF TRANSPORTATION AND AIR QUALITY. I WILL SERVE AS THE PRESIDING OFFICER FOR TODAY'S HEARING. WE WILL HEAR TESTIMONY TODAY ON EPA'S PROPOSED RULEMAKING FOR CLEANER TRUCKS AND BUSES AND CLEANER DIESEL FUEL. THE PROPOSAL WE ARE CONSIDERING TODAY WAS ANNOUNCED BY EPA ADMINISTRATOR CAROL BROWNER ON MAY 17 AND PUBLISHED IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER JUNE 2. THIS IS A HISTORIC PROPOSAL. THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL ACHIEVE A DRAMATIC REDUCTION IN AIR POLLUTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY. LAST YEAR WE ESTABLISHED A NEW PROGRAM TO DRAMATICALLY REDUCE EMISSIONS FROM CARS AND LIGHT-DUTY TRUCKS SUVS, MINIVANS, AND PICK-UP TRUCKS. THAT PROGRAM, CALLED THE "TIER 2" PROGRAM, WILL HELP TO IMPROVE THE NATION'S AIR QUALITY BY PHASING IN BOTH CLEANER ENGINES AND CLEANER BURNING GASOLINE OVER THE NEXT DECADE FOR PASSENGER VEHICLES. WE ARE NOW FOCUSING MUCH-NEEDED ATTENTION ON HEAVY-DUTY HIGHWAY VEHICLES, APPLYING THE SAME PRINCIPLES OF ADDRESSING THE VEHICLES AND THE FUEL AS A SINGLE SYSTEM. THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM WOULD PROTECT THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT OF ALL AMERICANS BY REDUCING THE SULFUR CONTENT IN HIGHWAY DIESEL FUEL BY 97 PERCENT TO PROVIDE THE CLEANEST DIESEL TRUCKS AND BUSES IN HISTORY. THIS MEANS THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS AND BUSES WOULD BE ABLE TO USE POLLUTION-CONTROL DEVICES TO MEET EMISSION STANDARDS, JUST AS PASSENGER CARS HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS. THESE DEVICES ARE SENSITIVE TO SULFUR AND WILL NOT WORK UNLESS THE AMOUNT OF SULFUR IN THE FUEL IS DRAMATICALLY REDUCED. THIS ACTION WILL PROVIDE GREATLY IMPROVED AIR QUALITY FOR ALL AMERICANS. IT WILL REDUCE SMOG-CAUSING NITROGEN OXIDES FROM THESE VEHICLES BY 95 PERCENT. IT WILL REDUCE HARMFUL PARTICULATE MATTER, OR SOOT, BY 90 PERCENT. IT IS THE CLEAN AIR EQUIVALENT OF REMOVING FROM THE AIR THE POLLUTION GENERATED BY 13 MILLION OF TODAY'S TRUCKS. HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS AND BUSES ARE LARGELY POWERED BY DIESEL ENGINES. DIESEL ENGINES ARE MORE DURABLE AND GET HIGHER FUEL ECONOMY THAN GASOLINE ENGINES, BUT THEY ALSO TEND TO POLLUTE MORE. FORTY-TWO METROPOLITAN AREAS WITH A POPULATION OF 123 MILLION PEOPLE RECENTLY VIOLATED OR ARE CLOSE TO VIOLATING THE 1- HOUR OZONE NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARD, AND RISK VIOLATING THESE PROTECTIVE STANDARDS IN 2007 AND BEYOND, WITHOUT THE EMISSION REDUCTIONS THAT WOULD COME FROM THE PROPOSED STANDARDS. WE ESTIMATE THAT, BY 2007, HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLES WILL ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 30 PERCENT OF NATIONAL MOBILE SOURCE NOX EMISSIONS AND 14 PERCENT OF NATIONAL MOBILE SOURCE PM EMISSIONS. THESE PROPORTIONS ARE EVEN HIGHER IN URBAN AREAS, LIKE HERE IN NEW YORK, WHERE HEAVY DUTY VEHICLES CONTRIBUTE ALMOST A THIRD OF THE NOX POLLUTION AND 11 PERCENT OF THE PM POLLUTION FROM MOBILE SOURCES . THIS POLLUTION CAUSES LUNG DAMAGE AND RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS. AND, THERE IS INCREASING EVIDENCE THAT DIESEL EXHAUST MAY CAUSE LUNG CANCER IN HUMANS. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WOULD HAVE A SUBSTANTIAL IMPACT ON THESE EMISSIONS. URBAN AREAS, WHICH INCLUDE MANY POORER NEIGHBORHOODS THAT CAN BE DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTED BY DIESEL EMISSIONS, WOULD RECEIVE BADLY NEEDED BENEFITS FROM THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM. WE ARE PROPOSING A PARTICULATE MATTER EMISSION STANDARD FOR NEW HEAVY-DUTY ENGINES OF 0.01 GRAMS PER BRAKE-HORSEPOWER-HOUR , TO TAKE FULL EFFECT IN THE 2007 MODEL YEAR. THIS IS A 90% REDUCTION FROM TODAY'S STANDARD. AND, WE'RE PROPOSING STANDARDS FOR NOX OF 0.20 GRAMS PER BRAKE-HORSEPOWER-HOUR, A 95% REDUCTION FROM THE CURRENT STANDARD. THESE STANDARDS WOULD BE PHASED-IN FOR DIESEL VEHICLES BETWEEN 2007 AND 2010. GASOLINE VEHICLES WOULD HAVE TO MEET THESE STANDARDS IN 2007. TO MAKE THE NEW DIESEL ENGINE TECHNOLOGIES WORK, WE ARE PROPOSING TO TAKE MOST OF THE SULFUR OUT OF HIGHWAY DIESEL FUEL, BEGINNING IN MID-2006 WHEN THE CLEANER MODEL YEAR 2007 TRUCKS WILL BEGIN SHOWING UP ON OUR NATION'S ROADWAYS. SPECIFICALLY, WE ARE PROPOSING THAT SULFUR LEVELS IN DIESEL FUEL BE LIMITED TO 15 PARTS PER MILLION. THIS IS A 97 PERCENT CUT FROM THE CURRENT HIGHWAY DIESEL FUEL SULFUR LIMIT OF 500 PARTS PER MILLION. WE ESTIMATE THAT THE COST TO PRODUCE AND DISTRIBUTE THE LOW SULFUR DIESEL FUEL WILL BE ABOUT FOUR AND A HALF CENTS PER GALLON. WE ESTIMATE THAT VEHICLE COSTS WOULD INCREASE ABOUT $1,000 TO $1,600, DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF THE VEHICLE. WE DESIGNED THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM TO INCLUDE SIGNIFICANT LEAD TIME FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW CLEANER FUEL INTO THE MARKETPLACE. THE PROPOSAL ALSO DISCUSSES VARIOUS FLEXIBLE PHASE-IN APPROACHES FOR THE DIESEL FUEL INDUSTRY TO FACILITATE THE COMPLETE TRANSITION TO NEW CLEAN DIESEL FUEL AND TO REDUCE COSTS FURTHER, INCLUDING POTENTIAL PROVISIONS TO ADDRESS SPECIAL NEEDS OF SMALL REFINERS AND FARMER COOPERATIVE REFINERS. FOR ENGINE MANUFACTURERS, THE PROPOSED PROGRAM ALLOWS PHASE-IN OF THE NEW ENGINE STANDARDS OVER FOUR YEARS, FROM 2007 TO 2010. BEFORE WE START WITH TODAY'S TESTIMONY, I'LL INTRODUCE THE EPA PANEL AND DESCRIBE HOW WE WILL CONDUCT THIS HEARING. WITH ME ON THE PANEL TODAY ARE: KATHY CALLAHAN, AIR DIVISION DIRECTOR OF EPA'S REGIONAL OFFICE HERE IN NEW YORK DAWN MARTIN, CHIEF OF STAFF OF EPA'S OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION CHET FRANCE, DIRECTOR OF THE ASSESSMENT AND STANDARDS DIVISION GRETCHEN GRAVES, FROM THE OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNCIL THIS IS ONE OF FIVE PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THIS PROPOSAL. WE EXPECT TO HEAR TESTIMONY FROM WITNESSES OFFERING A BROAD RANGE OF PERSPECTIVES. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT, IN ADDITION TO THE OPPORTUNITY FOR ORAL COMMENT AT THESE HEARINGS, THE COMMENT PERIOD WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR AN ADDITIONAL 45 DAYS -- UNTIL AUGUST 14 -- TO ALLOW FOR WRITTEN COMMENTS. WE ARE CONDUCTING THIS HEARING IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 307-D5 OF THE CLEAN AIR ACT, WHICH REQUIRES EPA TO PROVIDE INTERESTED PERSONS WITH AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ORAL PRESENTATION OF DATA, VIEWS OR ARGUMENTS IN ADDITION TO AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS. WE EXPECT A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE HERE TODAY TO PROVIDE COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSAL. WE'LL DO OUR BEST TO KEEP THE PROCESS MOVING SMOOTHLY, AND I'M ASKING FOR YOUR HELP. SO THAT EVERYONE HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK, I'M ASKING EVERYONE TO KEEP YOUR COMMENTS TO AN ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM OF TEN MINUTES, SHORTER IF POSSIBLE. AS YOU ARE TESTIFYING, ___________, WHO IS SITTING IN THE FRONT ROW, WILL HELP YOU KEEP TRACK OF TIME BY SIGNALING YOU BEFORE TEN MINUTES IS UP. BECAUSE OF THE LARGE NUMBER OF WITNESSES WHO WILL TESTIFY TODAY, THIS HEARING MAY GO INTO THE EVENING HOURS. IF NECESSARY, WE'LL WORK THROUGH LUNCH AND DINNER. I WILL CONDUCT THIS HEARING INFORMALLY. WE REQUEST THAT WITNESSES STATE THEIR NAMES AND AFFILIATION PRIOR TO MAKING THEIR STATEMENT. PLEASE WRITE YOUR NAME CLEARLY ON THE PAPER PROVIDED AND PLACE IT IN FRONT OF YOU. WHEN A WITNESS HAS FINISHED HIS OR HER PRESENTATION, MEMBERS OF THE PANEL MAY ASK THE PERSON QUESTIONS CONCERNING THEIR TESTIMONY. WITNESSES ARE REMINDED THAT ANY FALSE STATEMENT OR FALSE RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS MAY BE A VIOLATION OF THE LAW. IF THERE ARE ANY MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE WHO WISH TO TESTIFY WHO HAVE NOT ALREADY SIGNED UP, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR NAMES TO THE RECEPTION TABLE. I ALSO ASK THAT ALL ATTENDEES -- EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT TESTIFYING TODAY -- SIGN IN AT THE DESK. IF YOU WOULD LIKE A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS PROCEEDING, YOU SHOULD MAKE ARRANGEMENTS DIRECTLY WITH THE COURT REPORTER DURING ONE OF THE BREAKS. THE TRANSCRIPTS OF THIS HEARING WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE DOCKET SHORTLY AFTER WE RECEIVE THEM FROM THE REPORTER. BEFORE WE BEGIN THE TESTIMONY, ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? IF NOT, I WILL INTRODUCE OUR FIRST PANEL ...