Gasoline use contributes to air pollution
Gasoline is a toxic and highly flammable liquid. The vapors given off when gasoline evaporates and the substances produced when it is burned (carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and unburned hydrocarbons) contribute to air pollution. Burning gasoline also produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global climate change.1
Did you know?
Burning a gallon of gasoline (that does not contain ethanol) produces about 19.6 pounds of carbon dioxide.
In 2015, total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline combustion were about 1,124 million metric tons, or about 21% of total U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.
Laws like the Clean Air Act reduce environmental impacts
Americans used about 385 million gallons of gasoline per day in 2015. Most consumers use gasoline in cars, light trucks, and motorcycles, but they also use it in small aircraft, boats, and water craft, and in landscaping and construction equipment. Some of the environmental laws in the United States focus on reducing pollution from these sources.
The Clean Air Act (the Act) seeks to reduce air pollution in the United States. Specifically, the Act (first passed in 1970) and its amendments require less-polluting engines and fuels,2 among other requirements, to reduce air pollution from gasoline use. To meet the air pollution reduction goals of the Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Required emissions control devices and cleaner burning engines
Emissions control devices on passenger vehicles were required beginning in 1976. In the 1990s, the EPA established emissions standards for other types of vehicles and for engines used in gasoline-burning non-road equipment.3 - Removed leaded gasoline
Lead in gasoline proved to be a public health concern. The move away from leaded gasoline began in 1976 when catalytic converters were installed in new vehicles to reduce the emissions of toxic air pollutants. Vehicles equipped with a catalytic converter cannot operate on leaded gasoline because the presence of lead in the fuel damages the catalytic converter. Leaded gasoline was completely phased out of the U.S. fuel system by 1996. - Required the use of reformulated gasoline
Beginning in 1995, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 required cleaner burning reformulated gasoline to reduce air pollution in metropolitan areas that had significant ground-level ozone pollution. - Required the supply of low-sulfur gasoline
Since 2006, refiners have been required to supply gasoline with 90% less sulfur content than they made in 2004. More reductions in gasoline sulfur content are planned to begin in 2017. Gasoline with lower sulfur content reduces emissions from old and new vehicles and is necessary for advanced vehicle emission control devices to work properly.
- Reduced risk of gasoline leaks
Gasoline leaks happen at gas stations every day. As people fill up their gas tanks, gasoline drips from the nozzle onto the ground and vapors leak from the open gas tank into the air. Gasoline leaks can also happen in pipelines or in underground storage tanks4 where they can't be seen. Beginning in 1990, all underground storage tanks had to be replaced by tanks with double lining. The double lining provides an additional safeguard for preventing leaks.
Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), one of the chemicals added to gasoline to help it burn cleaner, is toxic, and a number of states started banning the use of MTBE in gasoline in the late 1990s. By 2007, the U.S. refining industry had voluntarily stopped using MTBE when making reformulated gasoline for sale in the United States. MTBE was replaced with ethanol, which is not toxic.
1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change Science.
2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Transportation: Mobile Sources.
3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Nonroad Engines, Equipment, and Vehicles.
4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Underground Storage Tanks.