Cleaner Diesel Engines & Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuels

On June 1, 2006 EPA started requiring refiners and fuel importers to cut the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel 97 percent, from 500 parts per million to 15 ppm. The Highway Diesel Rule (effective 2006) and the Nonroad Diesel Rule (effective 2007), by addressing diesel fuel and engines as a single system, will produce the clean air equivalent of reducing air pollution (smog-causing nitrous oxides by half and lower emissions of particulate matter) by 90 percent from today's trucks and buses.

Once fully implemented, The Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) program will prevent nearly 8,300 premature deaths and tens of thousands of cases of respiratory ailments such as bronchitis and asthma. ULSD will result in the annual reduction of 2.6 million tons nitrogen oxides and 110,000 tons of particulate matter. (More)