NYAG, coalition urge EPA to adopt vehicle-emission rule

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging adoption of a proposed rule for reducing air pollution from passenger cars and trucks.

Schneiderman is leading a group of 15 cities and states in pushing for passage of the rule, his office said in a news release.

The “Tier 3 Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards” rule, which the EPA proposed in March, will set new vehicle emission and fuel standards beginning in 2017, according to Schneiderman’s office.

The rule is intended to reduce motor-vehicle emissions of smog-producing pollution by 80 percent and soot pollution by 70 percent. The coalition letter urges the EPA to finalize the rule by the end of 2013.

Emissions from cars and trucks result in air pollution that threatens the health of millions of New Yorkers each year, Schneiderman said in the news release.

“We commend the EPA for proposing common-sense, cost-effective and forward-looking pollution standards for motor vehicles. They will help us win the fight against dirty air. Today, we are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure these standards are finalized without delay,” Schneiderman said.

As noted in the coalition letter, the proposed standards are expected to prevent as many as 23,000 cases of respiratory illness in children, 22,000 asthma attacks, and 2,400 premature deaths each year, according to Schneiderman’s office.

The standards are intended to lead to pollution reductions that would equate to taking 33 million vehicles off the road during the 2017 to 2025 period of the rule’s applicability, Schneiderman said.

EPA’s “Tier 3 Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards” were published in the Federal Register on May 21. The rule builds on EPA’s “Tier 2” motor-vehicle regulations finalized in 2000.

The proposed rule would set new emission standard for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and certain medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles starting in 2017, according to Schneiderman’s office.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com