Opinion ID: 715640
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: High-Sulfur Fuel and the Third Vehicle Problem

Text: 9 Gasoline currently available in New York contains very high levels of sulfur. For example, a survey conducted by plaintiffs in the summer of 1991 found that the average sulfur levels for unleaded regular gasoline sold in New York City approached 500 parts per million (ppm), with peak levels of over 700 ppm. California's Phase 2 gasoline specifications, in contrast, mandate a maximum sulfur content of 80 ppm. See Cal.Code Regs. tit. 13, § 2262.2(a). Although the Clean Air Act requires, in certain severely polluted counties of New York (those classified by the EPA as non-attainment areas), the sale of federal reformulated gasolines, see § 211(k)(5) to (k)(6)(A), 42 U.S.C. § 7545(k)(5) to (k)(6)(A); 57 Fed.Reg. 7926, 7926-27 (March 5, 1992) (action by EPA granting Gov. Cuomo's request to apply prohibition against selling conventional gasolines); see also § 211(g)(2); 42 U.S.C. § 7545(g)(2) (limiting sulfur content of diesel fuel), neither federal nor state law subjects gasoline sold in New York to the strict sulfur limitation applicable in California. 10 Because auto manufacturers design engines to comply with California's emissions regulations, the sulfur content of the fuel on which the vehicle will operate affects their engineering choices. High sulfur content in fuel poisons the noble metals that line catalytic converters, directly resulting in decreased efficiency and increased emissions. Palladium, a noble metal with certain properties particularly desirable for use in catalytic systems, is especially sensitive to sulfur poisoning during low temperature operation. Gregory S. Sims, Durability Characteristics of Palladium Catalysts, Society of Automotive Engineers Report No. 912369, at 3, 8-9 (1991). Therefore, it was the projected commercial availability of low-sulfur gasoline that enabled some auto designers to elect to use palladium converters on California cars. 11 Because such emissions control systems are less effective when operated on high-sulfur fuel, some manufacturers have concluded that they would have to redesign these systems in order to ensure compliance with an in-use testing program and an inspection and maintenance testing program that may be implemented in New York. In-use compliance testing measures a small sample of a particular engine family to see if after tens of thousands of miles of actual road use these cars meet in-use standards set at or very close to the ones to which they were originally certified. In-use testing is also known as recall testing because recalls may be ordered on the basis of test results. Inspection and maintenance testing is the periodic emissions test that cars in ozone non-attainment areas undergo. Its purpose is to detect those few individual cars whose emissions control systems have failed and to require their owners to undertake repairs. To satisfy in-use testing and inspection and maintenance standards, the manufacturers contend, they will have to change the type, location or precious metal loadings of catalytic converters to make them less sensitive to sulfur, costing millions and requiring new emission certificates from California. 12 A second design choice influenced by commercial fuel availability is the method of mounting the catalytic converter. The General Motors Corporation (GM) tells us it designed its California car with an air-tight welded mounting assembly to minimize and control vibration, but that its New York version of the car will require a high-specification flanged and bolted mounting system to promote ease of catalytic converter replacement. This is because GM anticipates having to replace more catalytic converters on California cars sold and operated in New York, in response to the onboard diagnostic system's (a vehicle's computer system that monitors the performance of emissions control systems) misleading activation of a dashboard malfunction indicator light required by California's--and hence by New York's--low emission vehicles program. 13 Studies conducted by GM suggest such onboard diagnostic systems will falsely illuminate at high mileage when a vehicle has been operated on high-sulfur fuel. The DEC believes these studies are flawed. See MVMA IV, 869 F.Supp. at 1019 n. 9; American Auto. Mfrs. Ass'n v. Greenbaum, 1993 WL 443946, No. CIV.A.93-10799-MA, at  7 (D.Mass. Oct. 27, 1993) (finding studies inaccurate because: 1. the sample size is inadequate; 2. the automakers do not provide any information about the single converter that failed the test, so there is no way of telling if it is substantially similar to the converters that manufacturers will use in California; [and] 3. the study was carried out using gasoline with a sulfur content of 600 ppm, while the proposed maximum for federal reformulated gasoline ... is 500 ppm.), aff'd, 31 F.3d 18 (1st Cir.1994). 14 Manufacturers also urge that to comply with California standards, vehicles that use welded rather than bolted converter assemblies achieve leak-free systems that cannot easily be replaced at a gasoline station or other service facility and still maintain near leak-free effectiveness. Despite the emissions advantages of welding, they contend, they would choose to use a flanged and bolted assembly in New York to minimize the imposition on consumers. 15 Although manufacturers have indicated they will not inform California purchasers that their cars should be operated only in California or on California fuels, they have admitted that modifications will be necessary for a class of California cars that will migrate from California or use cheaper non-California gas when operated in California. MVMA, 869 F.Supp. at 1019. This class of California vehicles, which the manufacturers will treat on a case-by-case basis, is subject to the same alleged problems that plaintiffs use to characterize New York's regulation as requiring the creation of a third vehicle. Id. 16