Air Quality

Air Quality Improvements

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that air quality has improved greatly in most parts of the country since the Clean Air Act of 1970. In fact, over the past three decades, emissions of the six principal air pollutants monitored by the EPA have decreased 51%, even as Americans take the wheel in ever-greater numbers. 

The oil and natural gas industsry is a leader in the push for cleaner air.

• The phase-out of leaded gasoline, completed in the 1980s, cut lead emissions by 98 percent.
• Sulfur content in gasoline has been reduced to less than four percent, decreasing the amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the air, a major component of acid rain. 
• The phase-in of new Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) will be complete across the nation by 2010. Used in combination with cleaner-burning diesel engines and vehicles, ULSD will yield still greater reduction in sulfur emissions. 

Emissions from oil and natural gas facilities are down dramatically.

• Thanks to better equipment and training, innovative technologies and advanced computer software technology, emissions from wells, refineries, and storage and transportation facilities have fallen as much as 69 percent since 1970.

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