On December 21, 1999 President Clinton announced regulations that will cut auto pollution by three-fourths. The many sport utility vehicles (SUVs) will have to meet the same emission standards as cars. Also the sulfur in fuel will have to be reduced. The President noted, "These will bring about the most dramatic improvement in air quality since the catalytic converter was first introduced a quarter century ago....With more cars on the road each year driving more miles, the tougher air quality measures were needed. Otherwise, air quality in many parts of our country will continue to worsen."

For the first time, cars and light trucks, SUVs, minivans, vans and pickup trucks would all meet the same emission standards. Nearly half the vehicles on the road are now light trucks, and they produce 3-5 times as much pollution as the average passenger car. The regulations would also dramatically reduce the emissions of nitrogen oxides from automobiles. Nitrogen oxides are a key component of smog, and it will be cut by 74%. Soot will be reduced by 80% by the year 2030 when car and light truck fleets have fully turned over in the United States.

It is necessary to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline because the sulfur reduces the efficiency of catalytic converters that clean auto emissions. The sulfur in gasoline would be reduced by 90% by the year 2006.

By 2009 new light trucks would be up to 95% cleaner and cars would be 77% cleaner than they are today. This is equivalent of removing 164 million cars from the road. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates the cost per gallon would go up by about two cents. This would begin to address the nation’s costly health and environmental problems caused by air pollution. Is it enough or quick enough? These slow and incremental improvements accommodate the schedules of automakers and the oil industry.

The much more urgent schedule of the informed American citizen is becoming more obvious to politicians and industry. This initiative by the President is broadly supported. Citizens demand clean air and environmental protection. The President and other perceptive politicians may be aware of this. Even the industrial group that lobbies against climate change, presenting until now a unified front of denial, may begin to realize it cannot do business as usual. The Ford Motor Company has quit. Ford says "Its membership in the coalition was something of an impediment to our ability to move forward credibility with the company’s agenda of environmental responsibility." As we approach the wall of sustainability even industry is beginning to realize today it cannot be business as usual. "The times, are they a-changin’?" We’ll see in this election year.