[sustran] fwd: more diesel salvos from CSE in Delhi

[SUSTRAN Resource Centre]

From: "webadmin" <webadmin at cseindia.org>
Organization: Centre for Science and Environment
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 13:43:19 +530
Subject: What's new at CSE, India
...

What's new at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, 
India
...

PRESS RELEASE MAY 10,2000

CSE accuses DTC of fooling people about having chanced upon a technique of 
reducing particulate emissions from diesel buses substantially that may 
render moving to CNG unnecessary. DTC is bent upon diverting public 
attention from CNG by initiating a pilot project on diesel buses instead 
of focussing on the implementation of the Supreme Court order on CNG just 
8 months before the deadline expires. Without paying any heed to the 
urgent need for drastic cut in particulate matter pollution in the city 
and the Supreme Court directive to give an undertaking on the 
implementation schedule of the CNG order, DTC carries on with a 
disinformation campaign on CNG. A press release from CSE at 

http://www.cseindia.org/html/au/au4_20000810.htm
...

-------------------------------------------------
A message from the Director, Anil Agarwal:

HIGH ON GAS

IT SEEMS that a new study from Harvard University in USA has vindicated 
the position of the pro-diesel lobby that compressed natural gas (CNG) is 
also very polluting. The report started appearing in newspapers, 
conveniently on the very day that the Supreme Court was to hear the case 
on moving diesel buses to CNG. Copies of this report that "conclusively" 
proved that CNG emitted nanoparticles (particles less than 0.1 micron) as 
against the information that diesel emitted fine and ultra-fine particles 
(particles of 2.5-1 micron) mysteriously landed on the desks of Delhi 
government officials. By July, with the government failing to implement 
the court order, this campaign had assumed gigantic proportions. Even the 
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi went public saying that CNG was not 
desirable. 

So what is this study all about? A close look at this six-page study done 
by the Harvard Centre for Risk Analysis in January 2000 shows that firstly 
it is only a preliminary survey that quotes rather vaguely from non-
referenced studies. It says, "some studies suggest that CNG emits more 
ultra-fine particles than diesel". Secondly, it is obviously biased in the 
selective information it quotes. Thirdly, it lacks credibility because it 
is funded by Navistar, one of the world's leading truck and (diesel) 
engine manufacturers. 

The following week, Parvez Hashmi, the transport minister and the man 
responsible for implementing the Supreme Court's order cited a December 
1999 US study prepared by the General Accounting Office (GAO). The report, 
he said, makes it clear that the US has a "very small proportion (5 per 
cent) of the transit bus fleet running on alternative fuels like CNG" and 
that CNG has inherent problems. The implication was that it was not 
possible for Delhi to move to CNG. 

But once again take a look at the selective use of the information in this 
"misinformation campaign". The GAO report itself says that natural gas 
buses have a promising future. Hashmi also does not care to note that the 
US Department of Energy (DOE) says that the discussion material in this 
report is "loosely based on informal conversations and interviews with a 
small industry group". The department says that the GAO report gives the 
wrong impression that CNG has technical problems as much of the report 
dwells on poor fleet experiences in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since 
then market conditions have changed substantially. For instance, says this 
department of the US government, nearly 20 per cent of all new bus orders 
are now for alternative fuel, primarily natural gas. 

What Hashmi forgets to say is that because of the growing success of CNG, 
the US government is now encouraging Interstate Clean Transportation 
Corridors - highways where CNG will be available throughout the route. He 
also does not care to cite that the new regulations in California mandate 
that operators with more than 15 buses must only replace their old 
vehicles or buy new vehicles that run on alternative fuels. USA already 
has 87,500 natural gas vehicles and over 1,000 CNG outlets. 

This is not to say that creating myths about CNG is a monopoly of Indian 
industry. The international diesel lobby is fighting the move to switch to 
alternative fuels too. However, in India, where both information and 
scientific ability are limited it is easier to spread half-truths and try 
to subvert court orders. In April 2000, fed up with this trend, the US 
Department of Environment issued a press release, Natural Gas Buses: 
Separating Myth from Fact. This reflects on each point that is being used 
to confuse Delhi's decision-makers. 

For instance, one argument used to discount the CNG option is the high 
cost of converting a diesel engine to CNG. However, what is not said is 
that while a CNG bus has a high initial cost, it has lower operation and 
maintenance costs. Also, what is not said conveniently, is that when 
estimating the cost of the diesel option one has to take into 
consideration what it will cost to reduce the emissions of a diesel bus to 
the level of a CNG bus. There are numerous studies to show that there is a 
very high cancer risk involved in the use of diesel because of tiny 
particulates and Delhi has a bad problem of particulates. The alternative 
proposed by Indian bus manufacturers is that Delhi should adopt Euro II 
buses instead of CNG. But Euro II and even Euro III (adopted in 2000 in 
Europe), buses would still emit ten times more particulates than CNG. The 
only viable option currently that competes with CNG is to go for Euro IV 
buses, fitted with catalyst-based diesel particulate filters, using ultra-
low sulphur diesel, where the sulphur content is less than 15 parts per 
million (PPM). Compare this to Delhi where after much chest beating the 
government has succeeded in getting "low" sulphur diesel which has a 
sulphur content of 500 PPM. Think of all the costs involved then?

That all this is happening at a time when our country is thinking, 
according to newspaper reports, of sending a mission to the moon to 
demonstrate its scientific prowess is incredible. We will only go down in 
history as being scientifically so incompetent that we could not even make 
a CNG engine work. 

- Anil Agarwal


Visit our website at www.cseindia.org and check out what's new. Our 
website carries our science and environment fortnightly Down To Earth, a 
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Let us know your website address and we would be happy to link to you. 
Please feel free to forward this message to other interested individuals. 

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A. Rahman Paul BARTER
SUSTRAN Resource Centre
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