Cleaner fuels: Quickest way to reduce pollution

Social and environmental organizations call on president to enforce and update a series of federal regulations meant to reduce vehicle emissions and improve air quality

By BRONSON PETTITT

Mexico Weekly / March 17, 2011

Social and environmental organizations on Thursday called on President Calderón to enforce and update a series of federal regulations that are meant to reduce vehicle emissions and improve air quality.

At a forum in Mexico City Thursday, six groups – the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA), the Center for Sustainable Transportation (CTS), the Jalisco Ecology Collective (CEJ), the Power of the Consumer (EPC), the Network for Children's Rights of Mexico and the Institute of Policies for Transportation and Development (ITDP) – said the federal government has not complied with or updated four regulations setting guidelines for cleaner-burning fuel that have become laws throughout the past decade.

The regulations establish maximum limits on certain contaminants that new diesel motors and heavy trucks are allowed to burn; the amount of acceptable sulfur in gasoline and diesel; and measures to provide more incentives to car manufacturers to increase gas efficiency on new car models by 2016.

Particularly, the groups called on Pemex to adhere to NOM086, which includes guidelines on ultra-low sulfur permitted for gasoline and diesel fuel.

'Lack of Political Willpower'

Sandra Guzmán, coordinator of the CEMDA's air and energy program, said these regulations are some of the most effective and quickest ways to reduce air pollution in the country. However, she believes there is a lack of political willpower in the federal government and Congress to enforce and update the regulations.

“This administration is among those that has advanced the least in terms of norms in the transportation sector,” Campuzano said.

The groups' demands come as vehicle sales and fuel consumption have risen dramatically over the past decade.

In 2006, there were 20 million vehicles in Mexico, said Hilda Martínez, manager of the air quality and climate change office at the CTS.

“If we continue this trend, we are talking about 70 million vehicles by 2030,” Martínez said at the forum.

Víctor Hugo Borja, an expert in public and environmental health, warned of the consequences that emissions and suspended particles can have on children and older people. Polluted air can cause respiratory illnesses such as asthma, and can prompt serious side effects in people who have diabetes or heart disease or who are obese, Borja said.

In fact, the World Health Organization estimates exposure to particles smaller than 10 micrograms is responsible for 9,000 premature deaths in Mexico each year – 20 percent of which occur in Mexico City.

“We estimated in 2000 that a 20-percent reduction in particles would prevent nearly 500 children from dying each year [in Mexico]. This reduction would also prevent illnesses in adults,” Borja said.

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