PARIS -- People in Europe's car-filled cities are likely to start breathing a little easier in the next few years because of tough new anti-pollution rules announced in Brussels this week by the 15-member European Union.
The rules, which ban the use of leaded gasoline, require many car engines and all fuels to become cleaner by 2000. Even tougher standards will go into effect in 2005. With the changes, governments hope to cut as much as 70 percent of the pollutants in emissions from cars, which regularly foul the air in some of Europe's most beautiful city centers.
Car owners in Europe have to contend with gasoline that is often taxed up to 75 percent and is among the most expensive in the world, yet heavy traffic clogs most cities and often cloaks them in a ozone haze.
But the European Union has set broad air-quality standards for the next decade that are among the strictest in the world, and the new rules are part of the strategy for achieving them.
With these new rules, environmentalists feel somewhat vindicated: they have long argued that the know-how exists to let millions of city people breathe cleaner air, but the political will has been lacking. The cleaner engines and fuel should now drastically cut back the mix of nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and soot.
The anti-pollution agreement, which was reached late Monday night and announced on Tuesday, was the result of long and often fiery negotiations among representatives of industry, governments and environmental groups.
Compromises were made on all sides. The parties agreed that all leaded gasoline will be banned from 2000, with one exception. Vintage car owners will be allowed to buy small quantities of leaded fuel, which the older cars need to run. Sulfur content must be reduced in gasoline and diesel fuel. New cars must be fitted with a computer that monitors emissions and warns when there is a failure in the catalytic converter.
The first phase will apply to passenger cars and small trucks. Other regulations for large trucks and buses will follow.
The changes are expected to raise the price of cars between $300 and $600 in the next two years. Carmakers will need to invest some $65 billion to meet the new standards, according to European Union officials. The oil industry estimates it will cost $35 billion to put the program into effect, with most of the money being spent in southern Europe, where many refineries have not kept up with new technology.
Most of the higher costs are expected to be passed on to consumers.
"We shall have cleaner air in our cities and fewer and less severe ozone episodes in the summer," said Ritt Bjerregaard, Europe's environment commissioner.
One of the toughest fights, but one that brought environmentalists and carmakers together for once, was over the permissible levels of sulfur, a pollutant that contributes to heat haze and breathing problems. Carmakers argued that improved engines and converters would not cut pollution from exhausts unless the sulfur level of diesel fuel and gasoline was set at a maximum of 30 parts per million.
But officials from the south, including France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, fought against lowering the sulfur content quickly, saying the cost to refineries would be too much too soon. They won with a rule that allows 50 parts per million of sulfur until 2005.
This move angered the more environmentally committed North Europeans, who said the southern officials were protecting and rewarding their often antiquated oil refineries.
"We do have a breakthrough," said Frazer Goodwin of the European Federation for Transport and Environment. "But we could have done much better. If you want to tackle air quality quickly you improve the fuel, but some governments are unwilling to push their refinery industry."
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