PRESS RELEASE
Coalition for Vehicle Choice Celebrates Clean Cars on Earth Day
21 April 1997
Earth Day: A Celebration of Clean Cars And a Time to Do Our Part for Cleaner Air
WASHINGTON, April 21 -- Americans can celebrate this Earth
Day (April 22) with the knowledge they are now breathing substantially cleaner
air than they were 25 years ago, thanks in large part to cleaner gasoline and
cars and light trucks that meet the world's toughest emissions and fuel
economy standards. "Today's new cars are about 96 percent cleaner than those
of 25 years ago, and twice as fuel-efficient," said Diane Steed, president of
the Coalition for Vehicle Choice (CVC) and former chief of the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) latest
Ten-Year Air Quality and Emissions Trends report, there have been significant
reductions in all 6 criteria pollutants and reductions are expected to
continue. The pollution reductions between 1986 and 1995 are as follows:
Carbon Monoxide (CO) down 37%; Lead down 78%; Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) down 14%;
Ozone down 6%; Particulate Matter (PM-10) down 22%; and Sulfur Dioxide down
37%.
Since 1970 air pollution has been steadily declining, despite the fact
that the U.S. population has increased by 28%, vehicle travel has increased
116%, and the gross domestic product has increased 99%. This is due, in large
part, to the advanced emissions equipment on today's new cars that reduce
tailpipe emissions of hydrocarbons by 97 percent, Carbon Monoxide (CO) by 95
percent, and Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) by 85 percent, compared with pre-1970
cars.
Steed said, "These dramatic improvements reflect the tremendous advances
made in reducing motor vehicle emissions since we began celebrating Earth Day
in 1970." A 1994 report issued by AAA showed that cars and light trucks are
no longer the single biggest contributor to regional air pollution. In fact,
in the ten major metropolitan areas studied, those vehicles represented less
than one-third of smog-forming emissions -- volatile organic compounds and
NOx.
But many motorists can still do more to improve air quality even further.
Studies show that 50% of auto-related air pollution comes from just 10% of the
cars and light trucks on the road. Those are the grossly out-of-tune
vehicles, old and new. "Now that new cars are so clean, the best way to
reduce the remaining auto-related air pollution is to encourage the owners of
those polluting vehicles to get their cars tuned up," said Steed.
"Cars are not only cleaner and more fuel-efficient today, they're also
much safer," said Steed. "As we celebrate Earth Day, vehicle safety
improvements certainly merit some recognition as well. After all, the goal of
reducing traffic deaths and injuries is the same as the ultimate goal of
environmental measures -- to protect human health. Improved driver attitudes
about safety and new technologies like air bags and anti-lock brakes have
combined to produce record low rates of death and injury on our highways in
recent years," Steed said.
"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 Steed. "It
would be hard to find a more dramatic example of environmental progress than
the gains we've made in reducing auto emissions over the past 25 years."
The Coalition for Vehicle Choice represents more than 40,000 automotive,
insurance, consumer, farm, recreation, construction, safety, senior, law
enforcement, and other groups and individuals working to preserve Americans'
access to safe and affordable cars and light trucks capable of meeting diverse
personal and professional mobility needs.
SOURCE Coalition for Vehicle Choice
CONTACT: Ron DeFore, 202-628-5164, or 800-AUTO-411, for the
Coalition for Vehicle Choice