In search of cleaner air

Trucks, passenger vans, and sport-utility vehicles heavier than 8,500 pounds must slash their toxic emissions by more than 90 percent in less than a decade, the Environmental Protection Agency said last week. Included in the EPA's proposal is a call for the reduction by 2007 in smog-causing nitrogen oxides and soot.

Trucking, whose $372 billion industry in the US makes up 81 percent of the nation's freight bill, will be particularly affected. The EPA will hold a public hearing on the proposal on Nov. 2, and will accept letters and e-mails from the public.

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