A new technical analysis shows that even a one year delay by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in implementing overdue emission standards for diesel trains and ships will allow serious health effects to go unaddressed over the course of EPA's program.
The adverse health consequences include: 1400 premature deaths, 3000 heart attacks, and 24,000 asthma attacks. The technical analysis by the national nonprofit group Environmental Defense is based on EPA's own data and methodologies, and is summarized in a one page fact sheet available from jscott@ed.org or scrowley@ed.org.
In 2004, EPA announced plans to put in place new standards for the nation's fleet of diesel locomotives and ships by mid-2006, but missed the deadline. In March 2007, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson issued draft federal standards that would reduce particulate pollution and smog-forming nitrogen oxides from each engine by 80 percent or greater when fully phased in. Collectively, this pollution reduction is equivalent to taking three-quarters of a million diesel trucks off the road each year. At the time the draft standards were released, Administrator Johnson said the agency would "finalize [the proposed rule] by the end of the year [i.e., 2007]," but EPA has now missed this deadline.