Under a court-supervised settlement agreement with Environmental Defense, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized the first national standards limiting emissions of cancer-causing exhaust from stationary diesel engines by up to 90 percent. EPA data indicate that diesel exhaust from diesel engines of all kinds contributes over 70% of the cancer risk from air pollution in the U.S. Diesel exhaust is a major source of fine particulates that have been associated with premature death from heart attacks and strokes, asthma and other lung diseases, and diminished lung development in children.
"Reducing the pollution from diesel exhaust is one of the single most important measures to protect human health from dangerous airborne contaminants," said Dr. John Balbus, Environmental Defense health program director and medical doctor.
There are about 650,000 existing stationary diesel engines nationwide used in a variety of applications, including power plants and chemical and manufacturing plants to generate electricity and to power pumps and compressors, diesel electrical generators (gensets), welders, and agricultural pumps. The EPA rule will apply to the estimated 81,000 new stationary diesel engines manufactured each year and, when fully implemented, is projected to lower pollution by over 68,000 tons annually.
"EPA's new clean air standards will help protect public health and the environment by applying modern pollution control standards to thousands of new diesel power generators," said Environmental Defense senior scientist Jana Milford, Ph.D.
The final standards will reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) by an estimated 38,000 tons per year (tpy), particulate matter (PM) by an estimated 3,000 tpy, sulfur dioxide (SO2) by an estimated 9,000 tpy, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) by an estimated 600 tpy, and carbon monoxide (CO) by an estimated 18,000 tpy in the year 2015.
Use of diesel engines for decentralized electricity generation is a predominant application and of special concern because of potentially heightened human exposure. Distributed power generation sources such as diesel generators tend to be broadly dispersed across urban metropolitan areas. As a result, diesel generators may be located near homes, businesses, schools, and other population centers, thereby increasing the risk of exposure to harmful pollutants.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Toxicology program, and EPA have determined that diesel exhaust is a likely or probable human carcinogen. Environmental Defense conducted an extensive risk assessment for emergency use diesel generators, one category of stationary diesel engines. Our analysis found that the cancer risk exceeded one in a million for a downwind zone spanning 10 to 20 average city blocks. In closer proximity to an emergency use engine, the estimated cancer risk exceeded ten in a million. Relying on dispersion modeling, risk analysis, state permit data and GIS analysis, the risk assessment estimated that in four California air quality management districts (i.e., South Coast, San Diego, San Joaquin Valley, and Sacramento), 150,000 children attended schools within the cancer risk zones of emergency diesel generators. The analysis is available at http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/2272_BUGsreport.pdf.
On December 8, 2003, Environmental Defense filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking an order compelling EPA to establish long overdue emission standards for stationary diesel engines. The case was eventually settled with the court approving a negotiated consent decree on September 27, 2004. The settlement required EPA to finalize emission standards on June 28, 2006. The final rule is effective 60 days after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register.
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