Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (December 1999, week 4)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Wed, 22 Dec 1999 08:22:40 -0800
Reply-To:     Stuart MacMillan <stuart@COBALTGROUP.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stuart MacMillan <stuart@COBALTGROUP.COM>
Organization: The Cobalt Group
Subject:      Re: New EPA rules for gasoline
Comments: To: arbosch@RA.ROCKWELL.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

What I have heard the environmentalist say is that by the time the law is fully implemented in 2010 it will have reduced air pollution at that time AS IF 50 million fewer were on the road than actually are in 2010. The words sometimes not spoken or heard are "as if."

This will not obsolete anyone's Vanagon or any other car! The biggest impact will be on new SUV's and vans that will now have to comply with the same emission standards as cars, and that will provide most of the decrease in pollution. It is a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say. It will just cost us a bit more at the pump and hopefully stop the trend towards bigger and bigger SUVs like the Ford Excursion, which ought to require a commercial trucker's license to drive.

Sulfur is what gives the rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulfide) you sometimes get out of a catalytic converter, especially when new. Sulfates are also formed which produce sulfuric acid in the air. Not good.

Alan Bosch wrote: > > You may have heard by now the Pres. Clinton has signed in to law a bill that > will tighten the pollution laws for cars, light trucks, & SUV's. Included in > the law is a mandate to Big Oil that allowable sulphur levels in gasoline must > fall from 300ppm presently to 30ppm somewhere around 2006. > > Now, I'm not an expert on this law. Don't know the details, etc., but I have > heard the following two points and it has me concerned: > > 1) A spokesperson for some anti-pollution group stated that this is "tremendous > legislation...it will take 54 million vehicles off American roads almost > overnight when fully enacted..." Huh? Does this mean that any vehicle over X > years old can not be driven? Isn't there some kind of grandfather clause? > > 2) The auto industry and the oil refining industry are not fightin this tough > new law as they previously have other pollution and safety legislation. If 54 > million vehicles are made obsolete over night, I wouldn't fight it either, for > one simple reason - $$$$$ - and a lot of them. > > (Here's the required Vanagon content) > > Is the lower sulphur levels is the next generation of gasoline going to do > terrible things to our WBX engines? I seem to recall that there was a lowering > of sulphur levels in Diesel fuel some years ago. It supposedly played hell on > VW, Volvo, MB, and other automotive Diesel engines because the sulphur was > acting as a fuel system lubricant (?) and the lack thereof caused injector and > injector pump failure (at least that's how I remember it). > > Alan Bosch > & Phred ('88 Wolfsburg) > Rochester, NY

-- Stuart MacMillan Manager, Case Program 800-909-8244 ext 208

Getting your share of the Net yet? http://www.cobaltgroup.com http://www.casedealer.com/demo http://www.caseihdealer.com/demo


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.