Air and Radiation

United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

EPA420-F-00-057
December 2000

Office of Transportation and Air Quality

Regulatory
Announcement

Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle
Standards and Highway Diesel Fuel
Sulfur Control Requirements
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is establishing a
comprehensive national control program that will regulate the heavyduty vehicle and its fuel as a single system. As part of this program,
new emission standards will begin to take effect in model year 2007 and
will apply to heavy-duty highway engines and vehicles. These standards
are based on the use of high-efficiency catalytic exhaust emission
control devices or comparably effective advanced technologies.
Because these devices are damaged by sulfur, we are also reducing
the level of sulfur in highway diesel fuel by 97 percent by mid-2006. The
program provides substantial flexibility for refiners, especially small
refiners, and for manufacturers of engines and vehicles, to aid them in
implementing the new requirements in the most cost-efficient manner.

Background
The pollution emitted by diesel engines contributes greatly to our
nation’s continuing air quality problems. Even with more stringent
heavy-duty highway engine standards set to take effect in 2004, these
engines will continue to emit large amounts of oxides of nitrogen (NOx)
and particulate matter (PM), both of which contribute to serious public
health problems in the United States. Exposure is widespread, particu­
larly in urban areas.

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Printed on Recycled Paper

 Diesel exhaust or diesel particulate matter
(soot) is likely to cause lung cancer in
humans. Other health effects include
aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascu­
lar disease, aggravation of existing asthma,
acute respiratory symptoms, chronic
bronchitis and decreased lung function.
Heavy-duty trucks
and buses today
account for about
one-third of NOx
emissions and onequarter of PM
emissions from
mobile sources. In
some urban areas,
the contribution is
even greater. EPA’s
new program will result in PM and NOx
emission levels that are 90 percent and 95
percent below today’s levels, respectively.
The results of this historic program are
comparable to the advent of the catalytic
converter on cars, as the standards will for
the first time result in the widespread
introduction of exhaust emission control
devices on diesel engines. And, just as
removing lead from gasoline enables the
use of catalytic converters, this program
removes sulfur from diesel fuel to enable
the use of these advanced emission controls
on diesel vehicles.

New Standards for Heavy-Duty
Highway Engines and Vehicles
We are finalizing a PM emissions standard
for new heavy-duty engines of 0.01 grams
per brake-horsepower-hour (g/bhp-hr), to
take full effect for diesels in the 2007

model year. We are also finalizing stan­
dards for NOx and non-methane hydrocar­
bons (NMHC) of 0.20 g/bhp-hr and 0.14 g/
bhp-hr, respectively. These NOx and
NMHC standards will be phased in to­
gether between 2007 and 2010, for diesel
engines. The phase-in will be on a percentof-sales basis: 50
percent from 2007
to 2009 and 100
percent in 2010.
Gasoline engines
will be subject to
these standards
based on a phasein requiring 50
percent compli­
ance in the 2008
model year and 100 percent compliance in
the 2009 model year.
The program includes flexibility provisions
to facilitate the transition to the new stan­
dards and to encourage the early introduc­
tion of clean technologies, and adjustments
to various testing and compliance require­
ments to address differences between the
new technologies and existing enginebased technologies.

New Standards for Diesel Fuel
Refiners will be required to start producing
diesel fuel for use in highway vehicles with
a sulfur content of no more than 15 parts
per million (ppm), beginning June 1, 2006.
At the terminal level, highway diesel fuel
sold as low sulfur fuel will be required to
meet the 15 ppm sulfur standard as of July
15, 2006. For retail stations and fleets,
highway diesel fuel sold as low sulfur fuel

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 must meet the 15 ppm sulfur standard by
September 1, 2006.
This program includes a combination of
flexibilities available to refiners to ensure a
smooth transition to low sulfur highway
diesel fuel. Refiners can take advantage of
a temporary compliance option, including
an averaging, banking and trading compo­
nent, beginning in June 2006 and lasting
through 2009, with credit given for early
compliance before June 2006. Under this
option, up to 20 percent of highway diesel
fuel may continue to be produced at the
existing 500 ppm sulfur maximum stan­
dard, though it must be segregated from 15
ppm fuel in the distribution system, and
may only be used in pre-2007 model year
heavy-duty vehicles.

We are providing additional hardship
provisions for small refiners to minimize
their economic burden in complying with
the 15 ppm sulfur standard and giving
additional flexibility to refiners subject to
the Geographic Phase-in Area (GPA)
provisions of the Tier 2 gasoline sulfur
program, which will allow them the option
of staggering their gasoline and diesel
investments. We are also adopting a general

hardship provision for which any refiner
may apply on a case-by-case basis under
certain conditions.

Health and Environmental
Benefits
Without significant new controls on motor
vehicle emissions, millions of Americans
will continue to breathe unhealthy air. The
new standards will result in substantial
benefits to the public health and welfare
through significant annual reductions in
emissions of NOx, PM, NMHC, carbon
monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and air toxics.
The clean air impact of this program will
be dramatic when fully implemented.
These emission reductions will prevent
8,300 premature deaths, more than 9,500
hospitalizations, and 1.5 mil­
lion work days lost.
As a result of this program,
each new truck and bus will be
more than 90 percent cleaner
than current models. The clean
air impact of this program will
be dramatic when fully imple­
mented. This program will
provide annual emission reduc­
tions equivalent to removing
the pollution from more than 90 percent of
today’s trucks and buses, or about 13
million trucks and buses.
We project a 2.6 million ton reduction of
NOx emissions in 2030 when the current
heavy-duty vehicle fleet is completely
replaced with newer heavy-duty vehicles
that comply with these emission standards.
By 2030, this program will reduce annual
emissions of NMHC by 115,000 tons and

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 PM by 109,000 tons. These emissions
reductions are on par with those for passen­
ger vehicles and low sulfur gasoline under
the Tier 2 program.
Ozone causes a range of health problems
related to breathing, including chest pain,
coughing, and shortness of breath. PM is
deposited deep in the lungs and causes
premature death, increased emergency
room visits, and increased respiratory
symptoms and disease. With both ozone
and PM, children and the elderly are most
at risk. In addition, ozone, NOx, and PM
adversely affect the environment in various
ways, including crop damage, acid rain,
and visibility impairment.

For More Information
You can access the final rule and related
documents electronically on the Office of
Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ)
Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/diesel.htm
You can also contact the OTAQ Library for
document information at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OTAQ Library
2000 Traverwood Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
(734) 214-4311

Costs of the Program
We project that the emission reductions and
the resulting significant public health and
environmental benefits of this program will
come at an average cost increase of about
$1,200 to $1,900 per new vehicle, depend­
ing on the vehicle size. To put this in
perspective, new vehicle prices today can
range from as much as $150,000 for a new
heavy-duty truck to $250,000 for a new
bus. We estimate that when fully imple­
mented, the sulfur reduction requirement
will increase the cost of producing and
distributing diesel fuel by about 4-1/2 to 5
cents per gallon.

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