Cleaning Up Heating Oil 'Essential' to Improving NYC's Poor Air Quality

EDF testifies about how to improve bill that could help meet federal clean air standards

NEW YORK, May 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Cleaning up heating oil is essential to improving poor air quality in New York City's most crowded neighborhoods," according to testimony today about how to improve a bill (Int. 194) to clean up the second dirtiest heating oil (No. 4 oil) burned in city buildings.  

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"Cleaning up heating oil is one of the most cost-effective and immediate steps that can be taken to deliver cleaner air to New York City's neighborhoods," testified Isabelle Silverman, an attorney for Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), during a hearing about Int. 194 before the City Council's Environmental Protection Committee. "The city is not meeting federal health-based standards for fine particulate matter pollution, and heating oil is one of the largest local sources of that pollution."

Silverman testified that EDF proposes two main changes to Int. 194, as currently introduced:

1. Reduce the sulfur content of No. 4 heating oil that can be as high as 3,000 parts per million to a firm limit of 1,500 parts per million—just as the City Council set firm sulfur limits for No. 6 and No. 2 heating oil sold in New York City—and eliminate the Dept. of Environmental Protection Commissioner's discretionary powers to increase that sulfur limit.  There is a direct correlation between sulfur content in heating oil and soot (particulate matter) and sulfur dioxide emissions.
2. Design sustainability standards for any biodiesel used in New York City to help grow the market for biodiesel from local sources, such as restaurant grease, and avoid the negative environmental consequences that can arise from transporting biodiesel from far away (e.g., Latin America) or using feedstocks that threaten valuable rain forest or other lands.  

An EDF report last year showed that just one percent of New York City's buildings burn the dirtiest grades of heating oil—No. 4 oil and dirtier No. 6 oil—and produce more soot pollution than all of the city's cars and trucks combined.  Soot pollution aggravates asthma, increases the risk of cancer, exacerbates respiratory illnesses and can cause premature death.  

Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.

Contact: Isabelle Silverman, (917) 445-6385, [email protected]

SOURCE Environmental Defense Fund

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