President Obama arrives to make remarks on the economy at the Safeway distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md.

Feb. 18, 2014 President Obama arrives to make remarks on the economy at the Safeway distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md. Pool photo by Mike Theiler/European Pressphoto Agency

Speaking Tuesday at the Safeway distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., President Obama announced that the government will tighten fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, part of an ongoing effort to use his executive authority to address climate change and spur domestic manufacturing.

On Feb. 18, President Obama announced that the government would tighten fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Next up: cars.

On Feb. 18, President Obama announced that the government would tighten fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Next up: cars.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday rolled out a rule to further limit sulfur in gasoline, saying the action will cut automobile emissions, provide welcome relief to people with breathing problems and be the equivalent of removing an estimated 33 million cars from the road.

U.S. oil refineries will be required to purchase new equipment to remove sulfur, which builds up in vehicle emission-control devices, causing more pollution. Conservationists and automakers such as Ford Motor praised the move, while a trade group that represents the oil and gas industry blasted it as an unnecessary step that will hurt consumers.

The EPA said the requirement, when fully implemented in 2025, will cost consumers less than a cent per gallon more at the pump while preventing 2,000 premature deaths a year and lowering health-care costs by as much as $19 billion.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the new regulation is “a win for public health” and that it will increase the average price of a car by about $75.

But the American Petroleum Institute countered that complying with the rule, which is to be phased in starting in 2017, will cost $2.4 billion per year and increase gas prices by up to nine cents a gallon.

1 of 10 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × News that shaped the planet in 2013 View Photos President Obama released his plan to battle climate change and its impact on people and wildlife, but the warming planet passed another troubling milestone as heat-trapping greenhouse gases continued to accumulate. Caption Another year of extreme weather brought the Philippines a super typhoon and the United States the widest tornado ever observed, deadly wildfires, severe drought and killer floods. President Obama released his plan to battle climate change and its impact on people and wildlife, but the warming planet passed another troubling milestone as heat-trapping greenhouse gases continued to accumulate. Here is a look back at some of the most significant events to affect the environment in 2013. — Lenny Bernstein and Darryl Fears Carbon dioxide Recorded carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached the unsettling milestone of 400 parts per million on May 10, a level of the heat-trapping gas unseen for 3 million to 5 million years. The burning of fossil fuels is primarily responsible for the increase. In 1958, when scientists began monitoring the carbon dioxide level in the air atop Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, it was at 316 parts per million. Other scientists reported, however, that the rate of increase in emissions slowed. Pictured: An electronic screen projects through heavy smog in Shenyang in China’s Liaoning province. Sheng Li/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

“This rule’s biggest impact is to increase the cost of delivering energy to Americans, making it a threat to consumers, jobs and the economy,” API Downstream Group Director Bob Greco said. “But it will provide negligible, if any, environmental benefits. In fact, air quality would continue to improve with the existing standard and without additional costs.”

Automakers welcomed the federal rule because it is close to what California already requires. That means car companies will no longer have to build one type of car, light truck and SUV for that state and different versions for the rest of the country.

“Today, the EPA took steps to harmonize regulations to improve air quality by issuing its final rule on . . . tailpipe emission standards,” said John Viera, Ford’s director for sustainability and vehicle environmental matters.

Support from the American Lung Association was more emphatic. The group estimated that the rule will prevent 19,000 asthma attacks and 300,000 missed days of work and school by 2030.

“The standards will reduce harmful air pollutants including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds. These pollutants are important precursors of ozone pollution and particle pollution,” said Albert A. Rizzo, a past chairman of the association’s board.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, called the standard common sense and “another step forward in making our air cleaner and safer to breathe.”

The new sulfur reduction standard, called Tier 3, is an extension of earlier sulfur rules that reduced sulfur and pollution in cars and other light vehicles by 90 percent. Those regulations paved the way for the development of more advanced emission-control technology in use today.

“While there were claims at the time that the program would cause fuel prices to increase far in excess of EPA estimates . . . and result in fuel supply shortages, Tier 2 was a success,” the EPA says on its Web site.