The Obama Administration is proposing new regulations to reduce the sulfur in gasoline by 60 percent plus reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent.
The new rules would result in $7 of health benefits for every dollar spent and add only one cent a gallon to the cost of gasoline. The EPA says the potential health benefits could be $23 billion a year by 2030.
The Washington Post reports the proposed new rules would be the enviornmental equivalent of taking 33 million automobiles off the road.
The oil industry, Republicans, and about 20 Democrats oppose the proposed regulation insisting the result will be to increase gasoline prices not one cent a gallon, but 6 to 9 cents. The auto industry supports the new regulations believing it will help them meet emissions and gas mileage standards for 2017-2025. The auto industry also says the new regulation is necessary to help the U.S. catch up with other countries that require cleaner gasoline.
The new rules would also create 30,000 new jobs over 3 years.
This low sulfur gasoline is already sold in California, Europe, and in Japan.
The American Lung Association has published a Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner study showing the public supports these new regulations by a 30 point margin. However, when given information the new regulation may increase gasoline prices 6-9 cents a gallon, that margin drops to 11 points.
The new regulations are praised by environmentalists. In the Washington Post article, S. William Becker executive director of National Association of Clean Air Agencies had this to say:
the new standard could be “the most significant air pollution policy President Obama will adopt in his second term. . . . There is not another air pollution control strategy that we know of that will produce as substantial, cost-effective and expeditious emissions reductions.