California Orders Cleanup of Diesel Fuel by Late 1993

Despite solid opposition from oil companies, truckers and agricultural interests, the state Air Resources Board late Thursday directed California refineries to produce cleaner-burning diesel fuel for sale throughout California by Oct. 1, 1993.

The regulation, which would cut the amount of black soot spewing from diesel tailpipes at an additional cost ranging from 11 to 28 cents a gallon, is intended to reduce photochemical smog, acid fog and acid rain and microscopic particles that cause respiratory illness.

“This step that the board is taking tonight is a very significant step in dealing with the diesel issue,” Air Resources Board Chairwoman Jananne Sharpless said shortly before the 7-0 vote.

In approving the plan, Sharpless and other public officials were clearly mindful of what they said was long-standing public impatience with polluting diesel vehicles.

“We are constantly getting barraged by public complaints on the diesel issue,” Sharpless said.

Earlier, James M. Lents, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, told the board: “The public is clearly telling us . . . that they want the diesel issue resolved if we expect them to take a personal role in the cleanup, such as ride-sharing.”

The standard could also have the indirect effect of helping diesel vehicle manufacturers meet tougher tailpipe emission standards that have previously been ordered by the Air Resources Board. Some new emission controls planned on diesel vehicles envision the use of particulate traps in combination with a catalytic process that will require cleaner diesel fuel to be effective.

In approving the clean diesel fuel regulation, however, the board agreed to industry pleas to give oil companies a year to come up with less costly alternatives for producing a cleaner diesel fuel, so long as they achieve the same or comparable emission reductions.

As it stands, all oil refineries must reduce the sulfur content of diesel fuel to .05% from the current statewide 2.8% average. Large refineries must reduce the aromatic hydrocarbon content of the fuel to 10% from the current average of 31% and smaller refineries to 20%

All of these pollutants reduce visibility. In addition, sulfur dioxide and aromatic hydrocarbons contribute to fine particulate matter and soot that spews from the tailpipes of diesel trucks and buses.

Sulfur is a major cause of acid rain. Aromatics are also toxic and the board staff said their reduction will also reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, which contribute to the formation of smog.

The oil companies said it would cost them $1 billion to equip their refineries to produce the diesel fuel with lower aromatics. They urged a delay of six to eight months until further scientific tests verified that the regulation would have as dramatic an impact on pollution as the Air Resources Board staff estimated.

It was possible, the oil companies said, that comparable reductions in nitrogen oxides could be achieved far more cheaply by changing fuel additives or by reformulating the diesel fuel.

If all the costs of the cleaner fuel regulation were passed on to the motorist, the Air Resources Board said diesel fuel would go up between 11 to 12 cents a gallon. Industry officials said the per gallon price would jump from 11 to 28 cents a gallon.

The regulation adopted by the board would reduce sulfur dioxide emissions statewide from diesel engines by 82%, small particulate matter emissions 25% and nitrogen oxide emissions 7%.

The sulfur limit has been in effect since 1981 in the South Coast Air Basin and Ventura County. The South Coast Basin includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

While industry lobbied heavily against the reduction in aromatics in diesel, the oil companies had no objections to a second provision of the regulation that would lower the sulfur content of diesel fuel, in large part because such low-sulfur diesel has been required in the South Coast Air Basin since 1981.

But, the entire rule was endorsed by 20 Southern California mayors and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, as well as the Sierra Club and the American Lung Assn. of California.

Gladys Meade of the Lung Assn. said the regulation ranks in importance with limiting lead in gasoline.

“Both actions were controversial, but time has proven that there are extraordinary benefits,” she said.

Besides the oil companies, the measure was opposed by loggers, agricultural interests, truckers and more than two dozen members of the state Assembly, who represent rural districts with large agricultural interests.

“It’s the most heavily lobbied issue in the last 1 1/2 years,” board spokesman Bill Sessa said.

Four of the eight board members present announced that they had been personally contacted before Thursday’s hearing by individuals representing special interests or by members of the Legislature.

Also joining in the opposition was another state agency, the state Board of Forestry. Among the oil companies urging a delay were Arco; Chevron U.S.A.; Mobil; Texaco; Unocal and Exxon. Agricultural interests included Foster Farms Inc.; the Western Growers Assn. and the California Farm Bureau Federation. Other opponents included the logging industry and Greyhound Lines Inc., which like the growers, were concerned about higher diesel fuel prices.

One oil company executive testified that if local air pollution authorities have their way, diesels will be replaced by cleaner burning methanol-fueled vehicles beginning in 1991.

“It would be folly to produce low aromatic diesel when we don’t even know if there will be a market for it in California, especially Southern California,” said Paul Larson, vice president of manufacturing for Chevron U.S.A.

The board staff said its conclusions were based on tests by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a research council funded by oil companies and auto makers, a study by Mobil and Caterpillar and findings by Mercedes-Benz.