Auto, Oil Firms Join Forces to Clean Up Air : Industry Leaders Have Been Working Behind the Scene to Improve Fuel, Engines

While state and federal officials move ahead with clean air proposals, leaders of the Big Three domestic auto makers and several major oil companies have been quietly meeting on their own to discuss forming a task force to research and develop low-emission fuels and engines.

Top executives of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Corp. and several oil companies last met on July 20 in Detroit to discuss setting up the task force to look into ways to meet clean air requirements proposed by the Bush Administration, said Arthur E. Wiese, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute in Washington.

In the meantime, lower-level officials of both industries also have talked about ways to meet clean air targets. Auto and oil companies favor meeting such goals by reformulating gasoline and modifying existing auto systems rather than by resorting to the use of alternative fuels, such as methanol, ethanol or compressed natural gas. On Tuesday, Atlantic Richfield Co. announced the introduction of reformulated gasoline for use in pre-1975 cars.

‘Some Reason to Be Skeptical’

“Modifications to existing fuels and automobile engines simply make more sense than betting on drastic life-style alterations and unknown technological developments,” said James S. Morrison, Arco executive vice president, in testimony before the South Coast Air Quality Management District late last year.

But air quality officials have said they doubt that any reformulated gasoline could result in emissions reductions comparable to those possible under methanol or other alternative fuels.

“Since there was not a lot of talk about reformulated gasoline as part of a real effort to help us clean up the air until the alternate fuels program had a lot of momentum, there’s some reason to be skeptical about it,” said Karl Hellman, who heads the emissions control technology branch of the Environmental Protection Agency’s lab in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The joint industry task force would also look into methanol and other alternative fuels, said Albert Greenstein, a spokesman for Arco.

The two industries have not reached agreement yet on the shape of the task force and may have conflicting goals.

The Detroit meeting included Richard M. Morrow, chairman and chief executive of Amoco Corp. and chairman of the API; Lodwrick M. Cook, chairman and chief executive of Arco; Kenneth T. Derr, chairman and chief executive of Chevron Corp.; Frank H. Richardson, president and chief executive of Shell Oil Co.; James W. Kinnear, president and chief executive of Texaco Inc.; Roger B. Smith, chairman and chief executive of General Motors; Harold Poling, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Ford, and Gerald Greenwald, vice chairman of Chrysler.

Since then, Unocal Corp. and other oil companies have become involved in the group.

Resisted Methanol

Another meeting among the top executives may be in the works, said Mike Libbey, a spokesman for Chevron.

Auto makers have argued that mandating alternative fuels would require major redesign of existing vehicles and that production might not be feasible until after 1995.

For their part, oil companies have resisted methanol as the alternative fuel of choice. Besides requiring massive investments in new refineries and pipelines, the use of methanol would raise serious questions about public safety and health, the companies argue.

“If we can make big improvements in gasoline, the need to get quickly to alternative fuels may not be as great since a lot of issues still have to be resolved with them,” Joseph M. Colucci, head of the fuels and lubricants department at General Motors, said on Friday.

The joint meetings among top oil and auto executives have been precedent setting, Wiese said. But agreement between the two groups may be hard in coming.

When Morrison spoke to the AQMD in December, he predicted optimistically that a coalition of energy companies would reach agreement with auto makers within 90 days on a project to develop cleaner automobile engine systems based on current technologies.

Want Improved Engines Too

Eight months later, “there is no agreement on table at this point; we’re still in the talking stages,” said Donald R. Buist, director of automotive emissions and fuel economy for Ford.

Emissions experts at the auto companies argue that the major improvements will have to come from reformulated fuels, adding that auto makers have carried most of the burden of recent smog mandates.

“There should be some greater interest on the part of the petroleum industry,” said GM’s Colucci. “If they can make gasoline into an alternative fuel, the crude in the ground and the refineries that convert it into gasoline will still have great utility.”

Oil company officials argue that improvements must come in both engines and fuels.

“It’s always easier to ask the other industry to do the job,” said Gordon E. Allardyce, executive engineer in charge of certification and regulatory programs with Chrysler. “But everyone recognizes that everyone has to do his share,” he said.