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Earth Day - From Cleaner Cars to Cleaner Air

21 April 1998

Earth Day - From Cleaner Cars to Cleaner Air

    COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 21 -- Thanks in large part to cleaner
cars, light trucks and fuels of today, Americans can celebrate Earth Day 1998
with the knowledge that the air we now breathe is far cleaner than just a few
decades ago.
    The improvements both in overall air quality and in vehicle emissions has
been dramatic.  The fact is, new cars and light trucks today are 96 percent
cleaner than those of the late 1960's.  Total pollution levels are down, and
motor vehicles now account for less than a third of the remaining smog
problem.
    The latest annual report on air quality and emissions by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that air quality is already good,
and continuing to improve.  That report found a decline in the total
atmospheric concentrations of six major air pollutants over the previous
decade (1987-96):

    * ozone (O3 or "smog") levels decreased 15%;
    * lead levels decreased 75%
    * sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels decreased 37%
    * carbon monoxide (CO) levels declined 37%
    * nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels decreased 10%
    * particulate matter (PM - dirt, dust and soot) levels decreased 25%

    And those reductions were achieved while population and vehicle use were
on the rise.  Over that same decade, the U.S. population rose 29%, economic
activity increased by 104%, and total vehicle miles traveled grew by 121%.
The introduction of new cleaner vehicles, which replaced older less clean
models, helped to make those gains possible.
    In a separate report on air quality and auto emissions last summer, AAA
found that motor vehicles are not primarily responsible for smog-producing
emissions in the U.S., even in major urban areas.  The well-known motorist
service organization analyzed emissions data from 24 major U.S. metropolitan
areas, and found that less than a third of emissions of hydrocarbons and
nitrogen oxides (which combine in sunlight to form smog) resulted from cars
and light trucks.  AAA said the study suggested that any new pollution-control
efforts should be directed toward other emissions sources, rather than
imposing new requirements on motor vehicles.
    "Cars and light trucks today are not only cleaner and more fuel-efficient,
but they're also much safer," said Jim Underwood.  "As we celebrate Earth Day
and cleaner air, the improvements in vehicle safety warrant recognition as
well.  The ultimate goals of air-quality and auto-safety programs are really
the same -- to protect human health.
    "Earth Day should be a time when we focus not only on the challenges that
lie ahead, but also on how much we've already achieved," said Underwood.  "It
would be hard to find a more dramatic example of environmental progress than
the gains we've made in reducing motor vehicle emissions over the past 30
years."
SOURCE  Coalition for Vehicle Choice