[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 17, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4101-S4102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-522. A resolution adopted by the Board of Commissioners 
     of the Borough of Beach Haven, New Jersey relative to the 
     dumping of dredged material in the ocean; to the Committee on 
     Environment and Public Works.
       POM-523. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature 
     of the State of New Hampshire relative to emission standards 
     for heavy-duty vehicles; to the Committee on Environment and 
     Public Works.

                     House Concurrent Resolution 30

       Whereas, the state of New Hampshire has made significant 
     efforts to improve the state's air quality and reduce air 
     pollutant emissions from many source categories in accordance 
     with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990; and
       Whereas, emissions from mobile sources now contribute a 
     majority of anthropogenic air pollutant emissions within the 
     state and nationwide; and
       Whereas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     has recently adopted the so-called Tier 2/Gasoline Sulfur 
     Rule which will require significantly reduced emissions from 
     light-duty vehicles such as common passenger vehicles and 
     from sport utility vehicles, will require sport utility 
     vehicle emissions to be reduced to not more than those 
     allowed for common passenger vehicles, and will require 
     significantly decreased levels of sulfur in gasoline during 
     the next few years; and
       Whereas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     has shown the reductions

[[Page S4102]]

     to be achieved by this adopted Tier 2/Gasoline Sulfur Rule to 
     be cost-effective; and
       Whereas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     in October, 1999 proposed a strategy to significantly reduce 
     emissions from on-highway heavy-duty vehicles (vehicles of 
     gross vehicle weight over 8,500 pounds), including diesel and 
     gasoline engines used in large commercial trucks, large full-
     size pickup trucks, passenger vans, and the largest sport 
     utility vehicles; and
       Whereas, this proposed strategy includes both a first phase 
     of new emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, and a 
     second phase to be proposed soon which will treat vehicles 
     and fuels as a combined system and introduce both significant 
     additional emission reduction requirements for heavy-duty 
     vehicles and, in order to enable new emissions-control 
     technology on heavy trucks, requirements that the sulfur 
     content of highway diesel fuel be reduced by approximately 90 
     percent from its current level of 500 parts per million 
     (ppm); and
       Whereas, diesel vehicle emissions control technology has 
     advanced sufficiently that diesel vehicles can cost-
     effectively achieve similar emission reductions to 
     requirements recently adopted for gasoline vehicles; and
       Whereas, non-highway gasoline and diesel vehicles, 
     including construction and farm vehicles and off-road 
     recreational vehicles, as well as other diesel engines, can 
     often achieve emission controls at a similar cost and with 
     similar cost-effectiveness as highway vehicles; and
       Whereas, reductions in the sulfur content of highway diesel 
     fuel are cost-effective and necessary to enable the use of 
     new diesel vehicle emissions-control technology; and
       Whereas, changes in fuel formulation are most efficiently 
     and equitably implemented on a nationwide or regionwide 
     basis; and
       Whereas, in the absence of appropriately stringent 
     nationally applicable standards for heavy-duty vehicle 
     emissions and diesel fuel sulfur, many states may adopt their 
     own standards, resulting in a complex and inefficient 
     regulatory system for vehicles and fuels, with negative 
     financial effects on consumers, manufacturers, and refiners; 
     and
       Whereas, the estimated cost per ton of emissions reduced in 
     the first phase of the United States Environmental Protection 
     Agency's proposed strategy is less than 1/2 of the cost per 
     ton of the recent Tier 2/Gasoline Sulfur Rule, and less than 
     the cost of many emission reductions currently being required 
     for electricity generation plants; and
       Whereas, additional financial incentives for vehicle users 
     and fuel suppliers to provide emission reductions beyond 
     those mandated by these rules are likely to produce 
     additional cost-effective emission reductions at minimal 
     cost; and
       Whereas, Governor Shaheen has written a letter dated 
     February 2, 2000 supporting this concurrent resolution; now, 
     therefore be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate 
     concurring:
       That the United States Environmental Protection Agency is 
     hereby commended for adopting its so-called Tier 2/Gasoline 
     Sulfur Rule; and
       That the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     should adopt the new emissions standards for on-highway 
     heavy-duty vehicles proposed in the first phase of its 
     proposed heavy-duty vehicle strategy, without any significant 
     amendment that would weaken the proposed standards; and
       That the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     should propose and adopt a second phase of integrated vehicle 
     standards and diesel fuel sulfur rules similar to those 
     outlined in its descriptions to date of its heavy-duty 
     vehicle strategy, provided that they are at least as cost-
     effective as the reductions contained in the Tier 2/Gasoline 
     Sulfur Rule; and
       That the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     should propose and adopt similar additional integrated 
     vehicle standards and diesel fuel sulfur rules for non-
     highway gasoline and diesel vehicles, in addition to those 
     for highway vehicles, provided that they are also at least as 
     cost-effective as the reductions contained in the Tier 2/
     Gasoline Sulfur Rule; and
       That the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     should propose and adopt similar standards for other diesel 
     engines, provided that they are also at least as cost-
     effective as the reductions contained in the Tier 2/Gasoline 
     Sulfur rule; and
       That the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     should investigate options for providing financial incentives 
     for vehicle users and fuel suppliers that produce additional 
     emission reductions beyond those mandated by these rules in 
     order to obtain additional cost-effective emission reductions 
     at minimal cost; and
       That copies of this resolution be sent by the house clerk 
     to the President of the United States, the President of the 
     United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House 
     of Representatives, the chairpersons of committees of the 
     United States Congress having jurisdiction over the Clean Air 
     Act, the Administrator of the United States Environmental 
     Protection Agency, and each member of the New Hampshire 
     congressional delegation.

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