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The Obama Environmental Protection Agency recently slashed the maximum allowable sulfur content in gasoline from 30 parts per million to 10 ppm. The agency claims its new “Tier 3” rule will bring $7 billion to $19 billion in annual health benefits by 2030. “These standards are a win for public health, a win for our environment and a win for our pocketbooks,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy insists. It’s all hokum. Like almost everything else emanating from EPA these days, the gasoline regulations are a case study in how America’s economy, jobs, living standards, health and welfare are being pummeled by...

The US Environmental Protection Agency issued final Tier 3 emissions control requirements for motor fuels and vehicles to meet by Jan. 1, 2017. The regulations address one major concern from refiners by keeping sulfur limits per gallon at existing levels, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said. “Frankly, what [the American Petroleum Institute] and others were relying on was an outdated estimate based on what they thought we’d propose, not what we actually proposed let alone what we actually put in the regulation following public hearings and extensive public comments,” McCarthy said during a Mar. 4 teleconference. “The per gallon sulfur cap...

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is driving ahead with a dramatic reduction in sulfur in gasoline and tailpipe emissions, declaring that cleaner air will save thousands of lives per year at little cost to consumers. Public health groups and automakers cheered the new rules, finalized Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency, with some insisting they could prove to be President Barack Obama's signature environmental accomplishment in his second term. The oil and gas industry, meanwhile, panned the move, calling it gratuitous and accusing the government of grossly underestimating the increased cost at the pump. "The benefits far outweigh the costs," said EPA...

The Environmental Protection Agency issued final rules Monday to slash the amount of sulfur in gasoline, which would help cut smog-causing pollution from autos and bring the rest of the country's fuel supply in line with California's standards. The new rule for "Tier 3" gasoline calls for reducing the amount of sulfur in fuel by two-thirds, to 10 parts per million from 30 parts per million. Similar low-sulfur gasoline is already in use in California, Europe, Japan and South Korea. The new gasoline would be available at the pump by January 2017. Cutting sulfur improves the efficiency of catalytic converters...

Oil industry lobbyists are making a last-ditch appeal to the Obama administration to soften looming new limits for sulfur in gasoline, warning that without changes, the mandates could send fuel costs up and force some refineries offline. But the Environmental Protection Agency has shown little appetite to lift the strict 10-parts-per-million cap it proposed last year, one-third the current sulfur threshold and 97 percent less than an earlier limit phased out in 2004. So when lobbyists from oil companies, refiners and industry trade groups meet with administration officials in coming days, they will focus their arguments on why they should...

Six governors joined the Washington, D.C. mayor in urging the Obama administration to swiftly propose mandates aimed at cutting smog-forming sulfur emissions from the nation’s roads and highways. In a letter to President Barack Obama, the state and district leaders insisted that the requirements governing sulfur emissions from gasoline are essential “to achieve our shared goal of clean air for all our citizens.” At issue is a long-stalled proposal to force refiners to slash sulfur emissions from 30 parts per million to 10 parts per million. The Environmental Protection Agency is set to formally propose the requirement, known as “Tier...

As the Obama administration prepares to unveil a plan to slash smog-forming sulfur emissions from gasoline, oil industry lobbyists are making a final push against the measure. Representatives from the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers met with the White House on Monday to discuss the issue with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and Budget. A separate meeting on the same topic last month included representatives from Shell Oil Co., Marathon Petroleum and the American Petroleum Institute. At issue are the so-called Tier 3 fuel standards, which would require refiners to cut sulfur emissions from...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided that the sulfur content of gasoline must be further reduced from 30 parts per million to 10 parts per million on an annual average basis by January 1, 2017. This will bequeath to President Obama’s successor the immediate economic problem of higher gasoline prices for consumers upon assuming office. Refiners are currently meeting the Tier 2 vehicle standards that reduced sulfur in gasoline from 300 parts per million to 30 parts per million, a 90-percent reduction. Refiners estimate that the proposed new rules will cost the American motorist as much as an...

The American Petroleum Institute urged the US Environmental Protection Agency to use a full Clean Air Act rulemaking process for its proposed Tier 3 rule instead of a rushed review process API says the agency is contemplating. The proposal to reduce gasoline sulfur limits and tailpipe emissions further is so controversial that it requires publication in the Federal Register, a comment period, and a properly scheduled public hearing, API Senior Downstream Policy Advisor Patrick Kelley told reporters in a May 7 teleconference. “Respecting the statutory rulemaking process in this case is particularly important because the proposal is hard to justify...

The Obama administration is at least briefly delaying a plan to require refiners to pare more sulfur from gasoline. The Environmental Protection Agency had said it was on track to finalize the proposed sulfur emissions standards by the end of the year, after unveiling a draft in March. But the timeline for a final rule now has slipped to February. The agency attributed the delay to a flood of public comments. “EPA received more than 200,000 public comments on the May proposal,” the agency said. “Due to the extensive input we received and the need for thorough analysis of available...

As the Obama administration prepares to mandate new limits on sulfur pollution from gasoline, congressional Democrats made a last-minute appeal for quick action. The Environmental Protection Agency has said it plans to finalize the new requirements by the end of this month. That would give refiners less than three years to comply if the agency holds firm to its proposed Jan. 1, 2017 deadline. Forcing refiners to slash sulfur emissions from gasoline to an average of 10 parts per million — down from the current 30 ppm threshold — would be akin to taking 33 million cars off the road,...

Move over Teresa Heinz-Kerry, here comes Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Lansdowne Technologies Inc. (LTI), the Paul Martin corporation that somehow disappeared from Martin's public disclosure statements circa 1995, is in a business similar to the Heinz-Kerry charitable organization that links leftwing activists and UN radicals to specially designed Internet communications and virtual private networks. Between the woman who coveted being America's First Lady and the Prime Minister of the country next door, top advocates of One World Government are being expedited in droves onto the Information Highway. Through the Tides Foundation, back in the early 1990s Heinz-Kerry (Mrs. John...