Locomotive and Marine Diesel Engines Clean Up Will ...( Statement of Bernadette Toomey Pr...),Health

Statement of Bernadette Toomey, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Lung Association, March 14, 2008

WASHINGTON, March 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Lung Association salutes the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule to require substantial cuts in the air pollution produced by locomotive and marine diesel engines. Communities across the nation urgently need this federal help to help clean up dangerous ozone and particle pollution. Cleaning up diesel locomotives and marine engines will save thousands of lives.

This long-awaited step requires train and boat engines to emit 90 percent less particulate matter and 80 percent less nitrogen oxides. Particulate pollution shortens the lives of tens of thousands of Americans each year and nitrogen oxide is a major pollutant and a key component of ozone, the most widespread air pollution problem in the U.S.

Emissions from locomotive and marine engines cause thousands of premature deaths each year. This long overdue rule will begin immediately to reduce thousands of tons of air pollution each year. Train and marine engines must now make emissions cuts comparable to those mandated for diesel trucks, buses and heavy equipment.

The final rule is stronger than the proposal in several key areas, including requiring the locomotive nitrogen oxide standards in 2015, two years earlier than originally proposed. Marine engines, like locomotives, will also have to meet tighter standards when they are remanufactured. The remanufacturing standards mean that the existing fleet of engines will start getting cleaner this year. The American Lung Association is very pleased that the final rule reflects the improvements that we called for in our public comments on the proposal.

Millions of people -- seniors, children, people with lung diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) -- live in areas where cleaner locomotive and mar
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