Environment Canada last week introduced stringent emission standards for on-road vehicles and engines that will come into effect for the 2004 model year.

The proposed regulations would align federal emission standards with those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a policy designed to support the integrated North American vehicle manufacturing market.
Heavy-duty engines will be directly regulated for the first time; under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act these engines were regulated only when installed in heavy-duty vehicles.
By 2004, heavy-duty diesel engines must meet a combined standard for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC) of 2.4 grams per brake horsepower-hour (g/bhp-hr). The current standard for NOx is 4 g/bhp-hr and the HC standard is 1.3 g/bhp-hr. The tighter restrictions represent a more than 40 percent reduction in emissions of NOx, as well as reductions in HC, from diesel trucks and buses.
Proposed standards scheduled to take effect in 2007 would reduce smog-causing emissions from trucks and buses by 95 percent beyond current levels. Soot emissions also would be reduced by 90 percent beyond current levels. In order to meet these more stringent standards for diesel engines, the sulfur content of diesel fuel must be capped at 15 parts per million -- a 97 percent reduction from 500 parts per million -- starting in 2006.
Between 1988 and 1998, particulate matter in exhaust has been cut by 83 percent -- and will be cut by 98 percent by 2007. In the same decade, NOx emissions have been reduced by 63 percent -- and also will be down by 98 percent in 2007.
In 1998, the EPA signed consent decrees with several of the largest heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers to address several in-use emission problems. The manufacturers -- Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, Mack, Renault V.I., and Volvo -- agreed to introduce cleaner new engines and rebuild older engines to cleaner levels. Under the agreements, the companies will meet emission levels for heavy-duty diesel engines beyond what the law requires by October 2002. The consent decree is a legal contract between the EPA and the manufacturers. The manufacturers have no such agreement with the Canadian government.