Shock Diesel

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it would let stand regulations put forward by former President Clinton to cut diesel exhaust from big trucks and buses by 95 percent. The new rules will require oil refiners to reduce the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel by 97 percent and force manufacturers to install pollution control devices in diesel engines. Health advocates and environmentalists were breathing easier after the announcement. But the trucking industry has continued to complain about the costs of complying with the rules, and the refining industry has threatened to sue the U.S. EPA over them.