Carmakers Back EPA Plan to Cut Sulfur in Gasoline

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposes to limit sulfur content in gasoline to 10 parts per million by 2017 from the 30 ppm currently allowed.

Sulfur contaminates catalytic converters and makes them less effective in lowering emissions. Sulfur also forms sulfur dioxide a pollutant that irritates the lungs when gasoline burns.

The EPA dropped the allowable sulfur content to 30 ppm from 300 ppm in 1999. Gasoline with 10 ppm sulfur content is already required in California, western Europe, Japan and South Korea.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers supports the new limit. It notes that lower-sulfur gasoline is compatible with advanced pollution control systems and would immediately help lower emissions from all cars currently on the road.

The EPA estimates that the 10 ppm limit would net between $8 billion and $23 billion in annual health benefits in the U.S., mainly by reducing premature deaths and childhood respiratory ailments.

The agency figures the lower regulation would add about 1 cent per gallon to gasoline production costs. The American Petroleum Institute questions the standard's health benefits. It has estimated the regulation would boost annual refining costs by $5 billion-$23 billion, thus hiking fuel prices by 12-25 cents per gallon.