EPA Hearing for Tier 3 Cleaner Tailpipe Standards In Philly

The public hearings for the Tier 3 proposed rulemaking will be held on: April 24, 2013 at the Sonesta Hotel Philadelphia, 1800 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Public comments must be submitted on or before June 13, 2013.

The hearing runs from 10 am through whenever the last person speaks. This publication from the EPA explains the process in a bit more detail:
Control of Air Pollution From Motor Vehicles: Tier 3 Motor Vehicle mission and Fuel Standards; Public Hearing and Comment Period (PDF) (2 pp, 212K, published April 8, 2013).

Here is the relevant parts of the media kit from the Sierra Club:

BACKGROUND
Finalizing new cleaner tailpipe standards is one of the strongest steps President Obama can take in his second term to protect public health and secure his clean energy legacy. Today, one in three Americans lives where the air is sometimes dangerous, even deadly, to breathe.

Cleaner tailpipe standards will require that refineries produce cleaner-burning gasoline and automakers use advanced technology to reduce tailpipe pollution. Using cleaner-burning gasoline in advanced vehicle technologies will mean less smog-forming pollution from car tailpipes – Americans get cleaner air to breathe.

The new standards will not only reduce air pollution, they will create jobs as auto parts suppliers manufacture the technologies that reduce vehicle emissions, automakers apply advanced vehicle technologies, and refineries upgrade their equipment.

TALKING POINTS
General

• Proposing strong cleaner tailpipe standards is one of the first steps President Obama can take to secure his clean energy legacy and protect our public health.
• More than 1 in 3 American children live where the air is sometimes dangerous to breathe, causing premature death, heart disease and asthma attacks.
• Cleaner burning gasoline will mean less smog-forming pollution from car tailpipes – giving Americans cleaner air to breath, saving lives and reducing asthma attacks.
• Cleaner tailpipe standards will prevent 400 premature deaths and 52,000 lost workdays due to illness each year.
• Cleaner tailpipe standards will create jobs as automakers apply advanced vehicle technologies and refineries upgrade refinery equipment.
• Big Oil opposes cleaner tailpipe standards; however, these health-protecting standards cost less than one penny per gallon.
• Automakers and the United Auto Workers strongly support these standards, along with local and state public health agencies, public health organizations, and environmental groups.
• The public supports cleaner tailpipe standards. According to a survey conducted by the American Lung Association, a 2-to-1 majority (62 to 32 percent) support the Environmental Protection Agency setting stricter standards on gasoline and tightening limits on tailpipe emissions from new cars.

Air Quality

• Passenger cars and trucks remain the second largest source of smog-forming pollution in the United States.
• These vehicles emit more than half of all carbon monoxide pollution and contribute significantly to deadly particulate matter emissions.
• Tier 3 cleaner tailpipe standards are expected to reduce the gasoline sulfur concentration from 30 parts per million (ppm) to 10ppm – a level already achieved by California, Europe and Japan.
• Tier 3 cleaner tailpipe standards have the potential to cut passenger car and truck emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds by 29, 38 and 26 percent respectively by 2030.
• By reducing the sulfur content of gasoline, these cleaner tailpipe standards will reduce nitrogen oxides from existing cars by more than 260,000 tons – equivalent to taking 33 million cars off the road.

Health Benefits

• One in three children, more than 127 million Americans, live in areas where air pollution levels are sometimes dangerous. Our cars and trucks are a major source of this health-threatening pollution.
• Standards for reducing smog-forming pollution from passenger vehicles are critical to reducing the health impacts of poor air quality, including asthma attacks, respiratory problems, and premature death.

Economic Benefits

• A study by Navigant Economics stated that the health benefits have an estimated value of $5 to $6 billion annually by 2020, and $10 to $11 billion annually by 2030.
• The new standards will not only bring cleaner air, but more American jobs as emissions control equipment manufacturers develop and manufacture technology to reduce vehicle emissions.
• According to a study by Navigant Economics, implementation of the cleaner fuel standard will create almost 5,300 permanent jobs in the operation and maintenance of new refining equipment, as well as more than 24,000 new jobs over a three year period for equipment installation at the nation’s refineries.