New Opportunities for NGVs in U.S. EPA’s New Ozone Standard

Washington, D.C. — NGVAmerica made the following statement regarding today’s announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise the national ambient air quality standard for ground level ozone.

“The EPA’s new ozone standard will raise the bar for many communities around the country who will be searching for solutions to reduce NOx emissions,” said NGVAmerica President Matthew Godlewski.  “Natural gas offers the best answer in choosing the cleanest-burning, commercially-available, transportation fuel that serves the most diverse number of motor vehicles.”

The EPA set the new national standard for ozone at 70 parts per billion, further tightening the current standard of 75 parts per billion established in 2008.  Nitrogen oxide (NOx) is created in the combustion process in engines and contributes to ozone pollution.  Natural gas engines offer superior benefits with the lowest NOx emissions among transportation fuels used today in high fuel use, medium- and heavy-duty trucking.

“New natural gas powered engines coming next year will reduce NOx levels by 95 percent over the cleanest-rated diesel engines,” continued Godlewski.  “These are benefits that fleets and communities are likely to embrace as they develop implementation plans to meet the new standards.”

Cummins Westport Inc. (CWI), the leading manufacturer of natural gas engines, recently received CARB certification for an 8.9-liter natural gas engine that was certified to the cleanest standard available for NOx (0.02 g/bhp-hr) and demonstrated actual emissions far below even this level.  These engines will enter the market in 2016.