Rule Making by the EPA

¶ … Rule making by the EPA

Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-1000-0001

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give my opinion on EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-1000-0001 and issues pertaining to nonconformance penalty for nitrogen oxides standards.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the flagship authority for regulating emission levels in the environment and ensuring that the air, water and land are free of pollutants. To make its role more effective, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and its subsequent amendments give EPA the statutory authority to come up with regulations that will reduce the emissions of heavy-duty engines and vehicles.

The EPA has to monitor the emission levels of these vehicles and when they go beyond the established federal limits, the EPA has the right to intervene. As long as the vehicles are below the upper limit, they have to pay a certain amount of money as penalty called the nonconformance penalty (NCP). However, if the emission levels go beyond the upper limit, then no certificate is issued and the company becomes reliable for the vehicles.

The idea behind NCP is to give the lagging manufacturers some time to work on the engines so that their emission levels fall within the federal limit. This is one way to ensure that the manufacturers do not get kicked out of the marketplace without a chance to make the necessary changes. NCP was first established in 1985 and it has been modified subsequently to make it more comprehensive.

There are three basic criteria for establishing eligibility for the NCPs. According to the first criterion, the standard should be difficult to meet by being more stringent by itself or by its interaction with another existing standard. The second criterion states that extensive work should be done to meet the new standards and the third states that there should at least one manufacturer who is unable to meet these standards due to technological reasons.

The current standards for NOX was formulated on January 18th, 2001 and was first applied to models in the year 2007. The phase-in provisions and the emission credits given to manufacturers to meet these standards end after 2009 and this is why they are also known as 2010 NOX standards. According to these standards, the emission level of Nitrogen oxides (NOX) should be less than 0.20 g / hp-hr and the upper limit is 0.50g / hp-hr. These limtis are applicable only to heavy-duty engines and medium heavy-duty engines.

The proposed penalty charges are $1,561 for COC50, $1,919 for COC90, $5,203 per gram per horse-power for MC50, 1.23 for the F. factor and 0.50 g/hp-hr as the UL for the heavy-duty engines. The values for the medium heavy-duty engines are $462, $682, $1,540 per gram per horse-power, 1.30 and 0.50 g-hp-hr for the same factors respectively.

The actions taken by the EPA in this regard is justified given the fact that greenhouse gases account for 90 to 99% chance of global warming. Some of the prominent greenhouse gases that contribute to this problem are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and HFCs. In the U.S., emission from heavy-duty vehicles on highways account for 28% of the problem. So, the EPA has to intervene at some point to control these emissions and this is the right way forward. This rule will discourage manufacturers from introducing vehicles that are high on performance, but continue to emit high amounts of greenhouse gases such as nitrogen oxide.

Most manufacturers today have the technology to reduce these emissions and it is a matter of personal choice whether they want to use the technology or not for a cleaner air. Some manufacturers do not prefer to reduce emissions on their own because of the additional cost and hardware that comes with it. Moreover, they fear the performance of the vehicles will reduce and this is another reason for their reluctance to voluntarily adhere to these standards. By introducing the NCPs, the EPA gives them a chance to phase out their production costs and they also eventually, ensure that the manufacturer adheres to these standards.