[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 7291]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 7291]]


                     THE CLEAN GASOLINE ACT OF 1999

 Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, today I am adding my name as a 
cosponsor of S. 171 the Clean Gasoline Act of 1999. This bill sets a 
national, year-round cap on the sulfur content of gasoline sold in the 
United States. The bill would bring American gasoline standards in-line 
with the low sulfur levels required in Japan, Australia, the European 
Union and the State of California.
  As we all know, cars are a significant source of air pollution. This 
bill would have an effect on pollution equal to removing 54 million 
vehicles from the road. The reason for such a dramatic improvement is 
that sulfur in gasoline coats the car's catalytic converter and spoils 
its ability to reduce emissions smog-forming pollutants. More than 30 
percent of these pollutants are emitted by cars and trucks.
  In the new breed of low emission vehicles, sulfur is particularly 
damaging. Engineers have created a new generation of pollution control 
devices for these vehicles that more effectively reduce smog-forming 
emissions. But, these cutting-edge technologies are poisoned by even 
moderate sulfur levels in the gasoline. According to industry research 
on this new class of clean cars, reducing gasoline sulfur concentration 
from the current national average of 330 parts per million to 40 ppm 
will reduce hydrocarbon emissions by 34 percent, carbon monoxide 
emissions by 43 percent, and nitrogen oxides emissions by 51 percent.
  If these devices fail to work properly because they are clogged with 
sulfur, those emissions reductions will be lost and much of our 
investment in cleaner automotive technology will be wasted.
  More importantly, lower sulfur levels in gasoline will reduce 
emissions from nearly every car on the road today--not just those with 
the latest pollution control devices. This is because reducing the 
sulfur content of gaoline instantly improves the performance of all 
catalytic converters in all cars. Low-sulfur fuel adds value to our 
existing investments in pollution control technology. There are more 
than 125 million passenger cars on the road today, and this bill will 
make almost every single one of them cleaner.
  I'm sure my colleagues recall the phase-out of leaded gasoline in the 
late 1970s. We undertook that phase-out because we understood that 
catalytic converters--a new technology at the time--would not work with 
lead in the gasoline. Now is the time to phase-out sulfur because, by 
reducing sulfur levels, we can reap more rewards from existing 
technology and eliminate barriers to new technology.
  Reducing sulfur levels in gasoline will require some changes to oil 
refining and processing techniques, and there is a modest cost 
associated with that. But, no other strategy can achieve such large 
reductions in air pollutants so quickly. We must capitalize on two 
decades of improvements in automotive technology by making similar 
advances in the gasoline used in those cars.

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