CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
October 25, 1967
Page 30069
THE AUTOMOBILE AND AIR POLLUTION
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, on January 6 of this year the Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation with eight other Federal departments and agencies, established a Panel on Electrically Powered Vehicles under the Commerce Technical Advisory Board, a group which has carried out a number of important transportation studies for the Government. The Panel was commissioned to study the technical feasibility of unconventional propulsion systems for vehicles in the context of the national concern over air pollution. The report of this study group has just become available and I would like to present the following comments about their work.
First, this effort is an example of the ability of various sectors of our society to effectively interact in the formulation of important public policy on pressing national problems. This type of meaningful interchange between the academic, industrial, and Government sectors is important to the strength of our political and economic system if we are to cope with new problems in reasonable ways and if we are to be assured that our new technology will benefit the public good.
The recommendations contained in the Panel report, entitled, "The Automobile and Air Pollution -- A Program for Progress, Part I," cover a wide range of activities from Government organization to national goals. Several of the recommendations appear to be especially
significant. One of the most important conclusions of the Panel is their proposal that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare develop and promptly implement an expanded program to establish quantitative information regarding the effects of air pollution upon health and welfare. This recommendation represents the core of the Air Quality Act of 1967, passed earlier this year by the Senate. The Panel has reinforced our conclusions that one of the most important information gaps in the attack on air pollution is determining the effects of contamination on health, property, and the quality of life.
Commenting on the current program for establishing standards for automotive emissions, the Panel concludes that better than 80 percent reduction in total emissions from new vehicles can be achieved by or before 1975, with further substantial reductions possible by 1980 or thereafter. To my knowledge, this is the first projection of emission reduction feasibility which has included a variety of academic and industrial viewpoints, including the automotive and oil industries. This finding will be a useful bench mark for discussion and planning for future control of automotive emissions.
The Panel has singled out lead in the atmosphere as a problem which demands immediate action. To date there has been no attempt to establish standards for the regulation of this particular emission from automobiles. The Panel concludes that growing levels of lead in the atmosphere are increasing the risk to human health and recommends that, since the margin between current body burdens of lead and toxic levels is small, the Nation should begin to control this contaminant and at the same time undertake an intensive research effort to determine the long-range impact of atmospheric lead on all population groups. This is a subject of continuing concern to the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution.
After a careful examination of the current system for setting exhaust emission standards, the Panel recommends that the criteria for the development of these standards should be changed from one of concentration of pollutant in the exhaust to the use of the total mass of specific pollutant emitted under an appropriate driving cycle. Such a procedure would insure equality with respect to contributions to pollution regardless of the power or size of vehicles. This is a meaningful recommendation to which the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare should give serious consideration.
The Panel also recommends that effective local inspection mechanisms to enforce vehicle emissions standards should be encourage by the use of Federal matching grants for training, equipment, and operation. Authorization for such a program is included in the Air Quality Act of 1967. I am pleased that the Panel specifically endorses this necessary part of a national plan for air pollution control.
The Panel report suggests the establishment of a $60 million, 5-year, Federal program to support innovative developments useful in the establishment of future emissions standards by carrying out work on new energy sources, vehicular propulsion systems, emission control devices, and special and general purpose vehicles. The report states that the intent of this recommendation is not to put the Federal Government into the business of building vehicles, but to allow the Government to collect the best possible information with respect to a wide variety of alternatives for pollution reduction.
In addition to this program, the Panel also recommends that the Federal Government incorporate low emission performance criteria as factors in the purchase of vehicles for Government requirements. This concept may be an appropriate role for Government in creating initiatives for private industry to create, develop, and use innovative concepts for pollution reduction. It is apparent that there is no individual consumer incentive sufficient to create demand for vehicles which have advanced pollution control concepts. But collective public action, and incentives created by the Government through such actions as imaginative use of procurement policies could be an important factor in advancing the technology of air pollution control.
In summary I want to congratulate the Panel, especially its chairman, Richard S. Morse, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for this excellent statement on an important national problem. The report is thoughtful and balanced and I am sure it will be an important contribution in the continuation of our efforts to bring about clean air for our citizens.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the summary of findings of the Panel be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the summary was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
I. THE RELATION OF AUTOMOTIVE EMISSIONS TO THE NATION'S AIR POLLUTION PROBLEM
1. Air pollution presents a serious threat of increasing significance to the health and welfare of this country and all industrialized areas of the world. Without prompt and effective action to control this contamination of the atmosphere, living conditions within and around the cities of the Nation will continue to deteriorate. Automotive vehicle emissions, namely carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, and lead compounds, are a principal contributor to this problem.
2. Emissions from automotive vehicles are largely responsible for the formation of photochemical smog in Los Angeles and some other areas, and vehicles are the principal source of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere. In addition to these known, specific effects, vehicle emissions combine with emissions from other sources, in ways and to an extent unknown, to contribute to general air pollution.
3. While there is evidence establishing ill effects from aggregate air pollution, there is an urgent need for more extensive information regarding the significance of specific and combined air pollutants on public health.
4. Population increase and urbanization trends require an overall national strategy for the control of all forms of air pollution and the early and effective implementation of emission standards to meet air quality goals. Local, state, and Federal agencies responsible for urban transportation systems have given inadequate consideration to pollution implications in the development of transportation systems.
5. The magnitude of expected future need for urban-suburban personal transportation requires the early development of virtually non-polluting transportation systems. The use of mass transportation systems can be a factor in the reduction of air pollution.
II. TECHNOLOGY AND THE CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION
1. On the basis of current technology, it will be commercially feasible during the next decade to reduce exhaust emissions from new gasoline internal combustion engines to values at least as low as:
Hydrocarbons – 50 parts per million (900 ppm)
Carbon monoxide – 0.5% (3.5%)
Oxides of nitrogen – 250 parts per million (1500 ppm )
2. During the next decade, in the normal course of events, no significant reduction in total air pollution will be achieved through the introduction of unconventional low-polluting vehicles into the current population of approximately 90 million vehicles.
(a) The state of technology does not permit the current development of an economically feasible electric car except for special-purpose, limited-range use.
(b) Current research activities indicate that significant technical advances may be expected in the development of improved electric energy storage and conversion devices. The time anticipated for the development and commercialization of such devices will not allow their use in a significant number of vehicles in the next decade. Any acceleration of this technology to make earlier commercialization possible will be helpful in controlling urban air pollution.
(c) Gas turbines are reasonable alternatives to internal combustion engines in the large sizes used in trucks, trains, and buses, but are not now economically feasible in the smaller units required for automobiles. Gas turbines produce low hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions, and can be designed to yield low nitrogen oxide emissions.
(d) Hybrid power plants involving combinations of high energy devices and high power devices could have satisfactory performance, but their economic feasibility for private passenger automobiles has not been established.
3. Vehicles using external combustion engines for propulsion, such as the piston-type steam engine of advanced design, potentially offer a satisfactory alternative to the present automobile and should have very low pollution and noise characteristics.
4. Diesel engines in trucks and buses emit highly undesirable smoke and odor, in addition to other pollutants. Smoke can be controlled now with proper maintenance and operation and the odor problem can probably be solved with adequate research.
5. Adequate energy sources are available at least for the remainder of this century to meet the vehicle transportation requirements of the country regardless of the type of power plant that may be used.
6. Over the next thirty years, the introduction and widespread use of any currently proposed propulsion systems will not be restricted by the supply of materials, with the possible exception of those which require large amounts of cadmium, platinum group metals, or silver.
III. THE ROLE OF INDUSTRY
1. There has been inadequate incentive for an individual automotive manufacturer to apply pollution control technology to the automobile in advance of its competitors.
2. There has been inadequate incentive for an individual fuel producer to introduce products with improved pollution characteristics in advance of its competitors.
3. The automotive and petroleum industries clearly recognize that Government has the primary responsibility to determine the effects of pollution and to establish realistic air quality goals and nationwide standards for automotive emissions.
4. The effective reduction of air pollution requires cooperation among automotive manufacturers, fuel producers, and the government at Federal, state, and local levels, as well as a clear understanding by all of their roles and responsibilities.
5. Apprehension with respect to anti-trust activity, and uncertainty concerning Federal regulations may continue to delay cooperative research activities and the implementation of technical programs of potential public benefit.
6. To meet competitive standards of reliability and economy in a mass-produced product, substantial time is required for the design, testing, and manufacturing of new automotive components. Under normal conditions significant innovations require three to five years for introduction into the automotive production cycle.
IV. THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
l. It is clearly established that Government has primary responsibility for research and the collection and dissemination of data relating to the effects of air pollution upon health and welfare and for the promulgation of realistic and effective national standards for air quality.
2. Vehicles meeting Federal standards for 1968, and California standards for 1970, will represent substantial progress toward control of automobile-generated air pollution, but additional controls will be required in the future.
3. The development of novel components and related automotive systems has been expedited through the use of Federal funds to support research and development in selected scientific areas.
4. The use of air pollution characteristics as essential criteria in the vehicle procurement process of Federal, state, and local governments could be a useful stimulant to the development and demonstration of low polluting vehicles.
5. Current automotive air pollution control devices are vulnerable to progressive degradation and alteration, and periodic inspection and adjustment are essential. The organizations, procedures and personnel for implementing this phase of a national program are not available.
6. State and local government agencies, with a few notable exceptions, particularly in the State of California, have not recognized the importance of the automotive air pollution problem.
7. Authority and responsibility for air pollution research and control activities have not been established at an organizational level within the Federal Government consistent with the magnitude and importance of this problem.
The Panel makes the following recommendations to the Federal Government as a Program for Progress in the control of air pollution:
Recommendation 1 : The national goal for air quality should be the achievement of an atmosphere with no significant detectable adverse effect from air pollution on health, welfare, and the quality of life.
Recommendation 2: The Environmental Science Services Administration of the Department of Commerce should establish a research program to determine the effects of air pollution on atmospheric processes.
Recommendation 3: The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare should develop and promptly implement an expanded program to establish quantitative information regarding the effects of air pollution upon health and welfare of the population.
Recommendation 4: The Federal Government should continue to establish standards for all harmful automotive emissions, and realistic timetables for the achievement of such standards.
Recommendation 5: The Federal Government should immediately establish standards for the lead content in gasoline which will prevent any further increase in the total quantity of lead emitted to the atmosphere. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare should begin an intensive study of the long-term health effects of lead in the atmosphere to determine requirements for future action.
Recommendation 6: The Federal Government should set standards for emissions, including smoke and odor, for gasoline and diesel powered trucks and buses.
Recommendation 7: The Federal Government should increase its support for mass transportation research, development, and demonstration programs related to the reduction of air pollution.
Recommendation 8: All Government standards concerning vehicle emissions should be developed in terms of the total mass of specific pollutants emitted under an appropriate driving cycle, rather than as the percent of pollutant in the exhaust.
Recommendation 9: The creation of effective local inspection mechanisms to enforce vehicle emission standards should be encouraged by the use of Federal matching grants for training, equipment, and operation.
Recommendation 10: The Federal Government should develop cooperative mechanisms to accelerate worldwide interchange of information relating to air pollution, its effects, and control.
Recommendation 11: The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare should establish primary operating responsibility for the air pollution control program at the highest possible organizational level.
Recommendation 12: The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare should establish a Technical Advisory Board reporting to the Secretary to assist in the development of plans, programs and research activities and to more effectively use the resources of the scientific and industrial communities.
Recommendation 13: A mechanism for coordination of all Federal activities relating to air pollution should be established as a continuing function at a high level in the Executive Branch.
Recommendation 14: The Federal Government should initiate a five-year program, in total amount of approximately 60 million dollars, to support innovative developments useful in the establishment of future emission standards, in the following areas: (a) energy sources for vehicles, (b) vehicular propulsion systems, (c) emission control devices, (d) special purpose urban cars, (e) general purpose vehicles.
Recommendation 15: Federal, state, and local governments should incorporate low emission performance criteria as factors in the purchase of vehicles for their requirements.
Recommendation 16: The National Science Foundation should review its basic research and educational programs in atmospheric physics, electrochemistry and other scientific and engineering disciplines relating to the air pollution problem and ensure that such activities are receiving adequate support.