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Congress Waddles Ahead on Cleaning Up Diesel Fuel

Green: Politics

On Tuesday, presumably one of the last days of the 111th Congress, the House gave final passage to a five-year extension of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, which aims to clean up old diesel engines. The bill authorizes the $500 million in spending over the next five years but does not actually appropriate any money; that is a battle for the next Congress.

Diesels need a clean-up strategy that is different from the one used for gasoline-powered cars. For cars, the federal government has ordered changes in the composition of fuel and has required new cars to emit less of it, which gradually happens as the car fleet turns over. The federal government has done what it can on diesel fuel, ordering reductions in sulfur content, but there is still a huge number of very old diesel engines in place, both in trucks and in stationary applications.

“Compared with traditional gasoline engines, diesel engines are more efficient, last longer, and without the proper technology, have greater, deadlier emissions,’’ said Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat who was a co-sponsor of the bill in the Senate. Read more…