The benefits will not be evident right away because they affect new trucks starting in 2007. While environmentalists applauded the agency's decision, the oil industry labeled it extreme and costly. But some oil producers disagree. Nearly 70 percent of the nation's diesel fuel is transported by pipeline, they say. The oil industry prefers a more modest 90-percent cut in sulfur.
Environmentalists say the industry's scare tactics fall apart under scrutiny.
Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust, points out that some oil companies make gargantuan profits. The EPA proposal builds on earlier efforts to crack down on auto pollution. While large diesel trucks have dramatically reduced their tail pipe emissions in the past decade, they still emit much more soot that can lodge in the lungs and smog-forming nitrogen oxides than autos. The health benefits gained from taking these pollutants out of the air far outweigh the costs to industry, the EPA argues. This proposal, Browner said, means 100 million Americans living in areas that have difficulty meeting clean air standards will breathe easier.