The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA modeled estimate
Verification: Verified primary source
An investigative record — Vol. I
Operational costs
What the diesel-emissions system costs to buy, maintain, repair and operate — across pickups, medium-duty and Class 8 tractors.
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The mandate is not only a legal regime. It is a bill of materials: diesel particulate filters, selective catalytic reduction systems, NOx sensors, exhaust gas recirculation valves, exhaust gas coolers, aftertreatment doser modules, diesel exhaust fluid tanks and heaters.
This section will publish itemized cost data as sources are documented. Nothing here is presented as a final figure until a citation exists.
EPA's own 2011 cost-benefit study, the strongest scholarly synthesis of Clean Air Act effects, and the leading environmental advocacy analysis. Read them together before drawing conclusions about diesel-specific costs.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA modeled estimate
Verification: Verified primary source
Joseph E. Aldy, Maximilian Auffhammer, Maureen Cropper, Arthur Fraas, Richard Morgenstern — National Bureau of Economic Research / Journal of Economic Literature
Strongest scholarly case that the Act worked
Verification: Verified academic source
Natural Resources Defense Council
Environmental advocacy analysis
Verification: Verified secondary source