Industrial society's reliance upon petroleum-fuelled vehicles has helped the oil industry to cover up the real costs of this fuel in terms of human health and environmental damage. Alternative are available in the forms of oxygenated fuels such as ethanol and methanol and new developments such as electric cars, but the growth of these alternatives is stunted by opposition from the powerful oil industry.

Environmentalists and the American Lung Association recently observed (May 1-5) a 'Clean Air Week' in Washington, DC to support initiatives for improving air quality. With the Exxon Valdez oil disaster and drought affecting much of the nation, environmental awareness in America is now at a level unmatched since Earth Day, 19 years ago. May also marked the opening of the summer 'ozone season', during which the air quality of over 90 U.S. cities will dramatically deteriorate because of increased ozone levels.

In the stratosphere, around 15-50 kilometres above the earth's surface, ozone shields the planet from harmful solar radiation. Nearer ground level, however, ozone is a toxic product of the action of heat and sunlight on volatile hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. Emissions and evaporation from vehicle exhausts, from the idling and refuelling of petrol and diesel vehicles, from filling stations and from oil terminals and refineries, contribute 75 per cent of the volatile hydrocarbon precursors of ozone.

The young, pregnant, old and ill are especially vulnerable to ozone. Persons with lung and heart disease are warned to remain indoors during ozone 'episodes'; even athletes are cautioned. Despite oil industry claims that further regulation of ozone is not cost-effective, it has been estimated in the US that the health of 28 million children is at risk from ozone, that childhood asthma has increased 25 per cent from 1982 to 1986,that over 750,000 children were hospitalized with respiratory disease in 1987, and that deaths from chronic lung disease have increased 36 per cent since 1970, And that is not all. Ozone causes costly damage to forests and agriculture.

The Hidden Costs

So who is responsible? Over the last 20 years, the automobile industry invested billions of dollars with the aim of reducing emissions of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, as well as carbon monoxide and particulates. But there are limits to which existing engines can be further modified. As one automobile executive recently stated, "there's no squeal left in that pig".

Meanwhile, the petroleum industry has made petrol more dangerous than ever. With the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to phase-out lead additives over the last decade, the volatile aromatic hydrocarbon content of petrol&emdash; benzene, toluene and xylene&emdash;has doubled to over 40 per cent and is particularly high in high octane grades.

The relatively low price of petrol hides its real societal costs. Apart from the strategic and security costs of dependence on foreign oil, the other costs of this fuel are prohibitive. These include:

• The contribution of petroleum to global warming:
• The costs of oil spills: The clean-up costs of the Valdez disaster, an "act of God" according to Exxon attorneys, are estimated to add four dollars per barrel to the cost of Alaskan crude oil and eventually exceed one trillion dollars. Exxon Senior Vice- President McMillen denies that the recent retail petrol price increase in the US&emdash;the largest in history&emdash;is due to the disaster, insisting that the-clean-up is just "another cost of doing business":
• The ecological effects of other marine accidents and offshore and tundra drilling:
• The contamination of surface and groundwaters by oil drilling muds, hazardous refinery wastes and effluents, and leaking storage tanks:
• The excess leukemia and brain and other cancers in refinery workers due to benzene and other carcinogenic petroleum components:
• The atmospheric emissions-from refineries responsible for excess cancers in surrounding communities:
• The exposure of consumers to one part per million (ppm) levels of benzene during full-service vehicle refuelling, and three ppm at self-service filling stations (workers must be . warned and protected above an one ppm standard). The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently estimated that benzene-laced ozone smog is responsible for over 220 excess cancers annually in the Los Angeles basin alone. The Committee also noted that mobile sources accounted for about 85 per cent of the benzene emission inventory:
• Consumers are also exposed to - potent isoalkane carcinogens in petrol, which the industry has attempted to trivialize. These may be responsible for the 140 per cent increase in kidney cancers in US males since 1950. Recent studies in Southern Califomia have shown that drivers, particularly in older cars, while idling or held up in traffic, are exposed inside their cars to high levels of benzene and other toxic pollutants.

A Post-Petroleum Economy

So what is the solution? EPA-approved oxygenated fuels, ethanol, methanol and their other derivatives, are readily available as economic alternatives. They can replace aromatic hydrocarbons and improve octane in today's cars, and eventually completely replace petrol with little adverse health or environmental effects. Increased levels of aldehydes in emissions from cars running on oxygenates can be eliminated or sharply reduced by the use of catalytic converters or related technologies. Ethanol has been used for years in Brazil, alone or in petrol blends, and in the U.S. as 'gasohol' (10 per cent agriculturally-derived ethanol and 90 per cent petrol). Methanol and natural gas are also altemative fuels, especially for urban mass transit and fleet applications. Despite industry's claims that ethanol, methanol and natural gas are too expensive, these fuels are bargains compared to the externalized costs of petrol. Other safe fuel technologies, including electric, photovoltaic-powered and hydrogen-fuelled engines, are particularly promising in the dawning post-petroleum era.

EPA Administrator William Reilly announced in April 1989 that the administration intends to propose strengthening amendments to the Clean Air Act to "ease" the burden of air toxics&emdash;and reduce the smog that so bedevilled our cities last summer."

EPA recognizes that petrols containing 3 per cent oxygen are among the most cost-effective means of improving air quality. Petrol in all phases of production, use and disposal is a major source of environmental degradation and disease (especially cancer). The time is overdue to replace this obsolete and ultrahazardous fossil fuel by safer altematives and modem technologies.

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