API represents nearly 500 companies engaged in all aspects of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry, including exploration, production, refining, distribution and marketing. Background EPA has proposed a rule to reduce highway sulfur in diesel fuel to unnecessarily low levels beginning in 2006. API supports the clean air benefits of lower sulfur levels and proposes a 90- percent reduction.
Lower sulfur means cleaner air.
Because diesel fuel and the trucks and buses that use it are the lifeblood of American commerce, the new rule could also harm consumers, jobs and the economy. A reduction to this level would reduce diesel emissions nearly as much as EPA's proposal at a more reasonable cost and would enable vehicle emission reduction equipment that is tested and proven. EPA also suggested that the new fuel might be phased in. Under a phase-in, two highway diesel fuels would have to be made and provided to retail outlets. The additional air quality benefits produced by EPA's proposal compared with API's proposal would be very small.