No Fuming Over Fuel Change in California
By Chris Bowman
California will reach another big milestone on the road to healthier air this week as suppliers of diesel complete a mandated switch to an "ultra low-sulfur" blend.
Remarkably, the sweeping changeover in fuel arrives unheralded by the usual angst or trepidation over engine breakdowns, performance drops and price spikes at the pump.
"It's been very quiet, to the point that we had to publicize that it's taking place," said Jerry Martin, veteran spokesman for the state Air Resources Board, which adopted the diesel rule.
Smog regulators demonstrated the new fuel in Sacramento last week by holding a bleached-white handkerchief to the exhaust spout of an idling tanker truck. Sure enough, as news cameras zoomed in, the hankie stayed spotless.
Aesthetics aside, the new fuel promises to greatly reduce harmful emissions from trucks and buses, smog officials said.
The cleaner fuel also paves the way for auto manufacturers to introduce a wide variety of diesel-powered passenger vehicles that otherwise could not meet California's toughest-in-the-nation exhaust standards, according to diesel engine manufacturers.
"You can see them all lining up," said Michael Coates, spokesman for the Diesel Technology Forum, a nonprofit industry trade group.
On Friday, General Motors announced plans to roll out a 360-horsepower turbodiesel in a full-size pickup sometime after 2009. BMW, Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler and Ford have similar plans in the works, Coates said.
In addition to delivering more punch than gasoline engines at low speeds, the diesel models would rival today's gasoline hybrids on fuel economy, Coates said.
GM promises that its debut engine will use 25 percent less fuel than a comparable gasoline V8.
California's deadline for the switch-over to low-sulfur diesel is Friday. A similar federal rule gives diesel suppliers elsewhere in the nation until Oct. 1.
The regulations limit the sulfur content in diesel to 15 parts per million _ a 97 percent reduction from the current 500 ppm standard.
Sulfur, a naturally occurring component of diesel, is not the chemical of health concern. Rather, the sulfur interferes with pollution control equipment on diesel-powered vehicles.
At current levels, the chemical clogs soot filters and disarms catalytic converters, which destroy smog-forming gases in the exhaust.
Diesel engines produce cancer-causing soot and vastly surpass gasoline-fueled models in emissions of nitrogen oxides, compounds that smudge the skies yellowish-brown and form ozone _ the ingredient in smog that irritates the eyes and airways, according to the state air board.
"Realistically, we are not going to eliminate diesel engines anytime soon, so we have to clean them up as much as we can," the air board's Martin said.
Nationwide, the cleaner fuel is expected to reduce soot and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 90 percent in the next three years as truck and bus engine manufacturers phase in models with stronger emission standards.
When fully implemented, in 2010, the new engine standards will prevent an estimate 8,300 soot-related deaths and tens of thousands of smog-related diseases such as bronchitis and asthma, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In California, the vast majority of service stations are selling the cleaner diesel, according to the state air board.
"The public really has not noticed any changeover, though it has mostly occurred," Martin said.
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